Orbitz has been named the official online travel agency for Gay Games VII, a weeklong sports and cultural event to be held July 15-22, 2006 in Chicago. Orbitz was the first major online travel company to launch a gay travel microsite and continues to make diversity a priority as a Global Gold Sponsor for the Gay Games VII Sports & Cultural Festival.
As a Global Gold Sponsor, Orbitz will provide travel and lodging services to the Chicago organizers of the Gay Games and promote the Gay Games in Orbitz television ads on Bravo and other networks. Special Chicago destination information and promotion of the Gay Games and Orbitz travel services will be distributed online to millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) audiences worldwide.
Fans, athletes and artists traveling to Chicago for the July 2006 Gay Games can go to Orbitz' gay travel microsite ( www.orbitz.com/gaytravel ) to book air, hotel, and car rentals. Orbitz also plans to launch travel packages on the microsite in September 2005.
'Orbitz is proud to be a global sponsor of Gay Games VII which will take place in our hometown of Chicago,' said Mitch Truwit, president and chief executive officer of Orbitz. 'Our gay travel microsite makes it fast and easy for both athletes and spectators to find gay-friendly travel options for Chicago. Gay and lesbian travelers represent some of Orbitz' best customers and this sponsorship of Gay Games VII is yet another example of our ongoing commitment to support the LGBT community.'
'Our new partnership with Orbitz will provide extensive resources to travelers coming to Chicago in 2006,' said Chicago Games, Inc. ( CGI ) co-vice chair Tracy Baim. 'We are pleased to be working with a company so dedicated to diversity.' Orbitz was the first major online travel agency to offer specialized travel services to the LGBT community through its extensive gay travel microsite.
'The international Federation of Gay Games is excited to welcome Orbitz to the Gay Games movement and congratulates the Chicago team on this new relationship,' said FGG co-president Roberto Mantaci from his home in Paris. 'Since its inception, Orbitz has been committed to meeting the special needs of the gay and lesbian traveler and is ideally positioned to help ensure that participants and spectators have a successful journey to and from Chicago next year. We encourage everyone to support Orbitz and all of the Gay Games VII sponsors for their commitment to our community and our mission.'
Orbitz is a leading online travel company that enables travelers to search for and purchase a broad array of travel products, including airline tickets, lodging, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages. Since launching its Web site, www.orbitz.com, to the general public in June 2001, Orbitz has become the third largest online travel site based on gross travel bookings. On Orbitz, consumers can search more than 455 airlines, tens of thousands of lodging properties worldwide and 16 car rental companies. Orbitz was acquired by Cendant's Travel Distribution Services division in November 2004, and is part of the Consumer Travel Americas group.
Gay Games VII Sports and Cultural Festival will take place 15-22 July 2006. Over 12,000 athletes from more than 100 countries will compete in 30 sports ranging from softball to dancesport, swimming to tennis. The weeklong event will include band, cheerleading and color guard performances, chorus, an ancillary arts festival, and a series of community-organized social events and parties. The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 15 at Soldier Field, the lakefront home stadium of American-style football's Chicago Bears. Closing ceremony will be July 22 at Wrigley Field, the home of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, located in the heart of Chicago's largest LGBT neighborhood.
For the first time ever, the Gay Games in Chicago will receive widespread television coverage on the Q Television Network. Early sponsors of Gay Games VII include PlanetOut/Gay.com; Q Television Network; Orbitz; Sydney New Mardi Gras; McKnight Kurland Baccelli; Mate, Genre, and Girlfriends Magazines; Windy City Media Group and more than 50 business sponsors.
See ee www.GayGamesChicago.org, info@GayGamesChicago.org, ( 773 ) 907-2006.
