TORONTO — Already a major competitor for the traditional retail travel agency distribution channel – and widely reviled by the travel advisor community for a practice many see as extreme rebating – Costco Travel has signed a new long-term technology agreement with Travelport.

Travelport owns the Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo GDSs.

As part of the agreement, according to a Travelport update, Costco Travel’s technology will be integrated with Travelport, expanding flight options available to Costco members with trip searches driven by Travelport’s AI-powered Content Curation Layer.

The multi-year agreement also includes access to Travelport’s intelligent data solution, Travelport Insights.

“Costco Travel is focused on delivering more value to its members by giving them more choice and better offers when planning their trips, and Travelport provides the seamless, modern travel retailing experience that their customers have come to expect. Travelport is the perfect partner to help Costco Travel achieve these goals for its valued members because we are committed to simplifying complexities that come with aggregating content from multiple sources,” said Jason Toothman, Travelport’s Chief Commercial Officer – Agency.