Saga Holidays Becomes the First Travel Company to Introduce Aurasma Virtual Technology into its Brochures

LONDON, January 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Saga Travel, the leading travel company offering global adventures for the over fifties, has become the first holiday company to feature Aurasma virtual technology into its brochures.   Customers browsing 2012 brochures will be able to virtually visit Saga Travels'’ cruise ships in Norway and adventures in destinations including South Africa safari.

Hailed as the next way of communicating with customers, the Aurasma app is easily downloadable onto smartphones and capable of recognising images, symbols and objects, and delivering relevant content in real time.  Content includes videos, animations, audio and webpages.

Using the smartphone, the technology combines image recognition and a conceptual understanding of the 3D world to recognize objects and images and seamlessly merge augmented reality actions into the scene. Without the need for barcodes or tags, the app is able to see its surrounding environment and make it fully interactive.

Susan Hooper, CEO, said "We're always keen to stay at the forefront of new technological developments that enhance the customer experience, and increase the platforms from which we can interact with them. As the breadth of our holiday options has increased, it's really exciting to be able to "take" customers on a journey before their real adventures begin".

Notes to editors:

• Saga Travel is part of the Saga Group, which is the UK's leading provider of holidays, products and services specifically designed for people aged 50 and over.  With over 2 million customers, Saga provides insurance, financial services and holidays and publishes the monthly Saga Magazine.

• Saga Holidays are available exclusively for people aged 50 and over, with a travelling partner of 40 or over. There are single rooms available at no extra cost on many hotel stays and tours.  If we reduce the price of a holiday once it has been confirmed, we will automatically pass the value of the saving on to customers which ensures that early bookers never miss out.  This is our  price promise .We also guarantee that the price of a holiday will not be subject to any surcharges, regardless of what may happen to fuel prices or exchange rates.

For further information:Carl Catterall, Travel PR Manager, Carl.Catterall@saga.co.uk Tel:+44(0)1303-771118.
Further information on Saga Holidays including voluntourism programmes:  http://www.sagaholidays.co.uk.
Further information on Aurasma technology: http://www.aurasma.com.