OCHO RIOS, JAMAICA-At the final day of the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa, Travel Agent sat with Nigel Osborne, the executive vice president of Dynamic Leisure Corp., who said a new booking engine will be launched for agents by as early as June 1. The new engine, called TourScape, will allow agents to book their own package vacations and receive a 10 to 12 percent commission. Though similar tools exist from the likes of GDS-giants like Sabre and Worldspan, Osborne told Travel Agent the engine is the company's effort to help agents combat consumer online booking engines such as Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. Meanwhile, on the conference floor, nearly 150 U.S. travel agents joined buyers and suppliers at JAPEX. In the morning, there were five press conferences geared toward new and existing products offered in Jamaica. From the conferences, Travel Agent learned that Jamaica's famous Dolphins Cove would be expanding to the Cayman Islands with operation slated to begin in the next 12 months.
