San Diego Travel Group is a highly diversified travel company serving corporate, retail, and wholesale clientele. The company had its beginnings with the 1988 acquisition of El Patio Travel (in La Jolla), an agency that had been in existence since 1963. The company is now ranked within the top 50 travel agencies in the U.S. with 2001 sales expected to exceed $105 million.

SDTG's locations:
Sorrento Mesa (HDQ) - Corporate
Carlsbad - Leisure
Carmel Mountain - Leisure
Chula Vista - Leisure
Downtown - Leisure/Corporate
Encinitas - Leisure/Corporate
Hillcrest - Leisure
La Jolla - Leisure/Corporate
La Mesa - Leisure
Mission Valley (1st & 4th Floor) - Leisure/Corporate
Point Loma - Leisure

SDTG FAMILY OF COMPANIES

SDTG Corporate: Corporate travel has been the mainstay of SDTG's success over the past 10 years. This division generated approximately $35 million in sales in 2000, representing 50% of all revenues. Corporate travel processing is centered in the Sorrento Mesa headquarters office of SDTG and is an integral part of several other branch locations. Additionally, the company manages six corporate on-site branches. SDTG's excellent customer service record has allowed the company to maintain such high-profile accounts as The San Diego Padres, The City of San Diego, The La Jolla Playhouse, Dura Pharmaceuticals, Alaris Medical, Packet Video, Insight Electronics, Jenny Craig, Int'l, and many others.

Carefree Vacations The leisure division of SDTG has grown considerably since 1995 when the decision was made to become a strong leisure force in the community. Currently, all but one of SDTG's 12 branches sell leisure travel and Carefree is the largest seller of vacation travel for its consortium (of 150 agencies), Leisure Travel Group. In 2001 Carefree earned top sales awards from 12 of the 18 presenting vendors sponsors at LTG's annual meeting.

Destinations Meetings & Incentives This two-year old division of the company has made widespread inroads into the company's corporate account base and has already approached the $1.5 million mark. The potentially lucrative nature of Incentive programs continues to be the focus of the department. This division is based in Sorrento Mesa.

Vacation-Hotline.com SDTG inherits the successful and growing V-H.com from Travel Connoisseur. This department exceeded the $5 million mark in 2000 in internet sales. V-H.com specializes in "All-Inclusive" vacations with the primary vendor being Club Med. Thanks to V-H.com, Travel Connoisseur was the #1 seller of Club Med in California and #3 in the U.S. in 2000. The department resides in the Mission Valley location.

International Department This department (in Mission Valley) includes staff dedicated to international rate desk functions, quality control, and the existing airfare Consolidator operation. Consolidator airfare sales, generated from external advertising and company-wide cross-selling, continue to be the main revenue stream for the department. In early 2001, the Int'l Department will also begin to fulfill the other roles listed above for all international bookings within the company.

Carefree Tours This department represents the company's wholesale activities. Currently, the basic programs being handled by this group are Connoisseur Golf Holidays and Carefree Legoland Vacations. Golf tours are a combination of inbound San Diego packages and outbound packages to the British Isles. Legoland is an inbound program aimed at the Carlsbad theme park and now expanded to include the S.D. Zoo and SeaWorld.

World Passport & Visa "World" is a department that combines the well-known World Visa operation from Travel Connoisseur and SDTG's Axis Passport/Visa division. The new entity now can take advantage of SDTG's considerable corporate operation as a steady contributor to its business. The entire range of international document processing along with required photos is handled by World Passport & Visa. The department is located on the 1st floor at the Mission Valley Branch.