Face to Face: David Jones, President & CEO, Amadeus IT Group
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1) In a fast changing marketplace, can you outline what trends Amadeus has noticed in peoples’/businesses’ travel planning methods over the past 12 months?
In a recent survey called The Austere Traveller that Amadeus commissioned from The Economist Intelligence Unit, business travellers said they expect to make fewer, shorter and cheaper business trips in 2009. The report finds that executives prefer basic efficiency and good service over ancillary services. 47% will be taking fewer trips in the next twelve months, while 61% said a trusted brand with uniform levels of service would be a decisive factor when choosing a hotel.
In addition, the travel industry is moving towards paperless travel. Amadeus has been the leader in paperless travel in the airline industry, as well as with car industry clients who have implemented our car e-voucher system globally.
2) How significantly do you believe the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones, is changing the way that people travel, and how is Amadeus responding to this trend?
We are seeing that travellers are increasingly demanding personalised real-time information for managing their travel arrangements while on the move. Last year Amadeus joined forces with ACTE to publish the Upwardly Mobile study on mobile technology and the corporate traveler. It found that corporate travel managers believe that mobile travel technology can provide time saving features such as flight check-in, virtual room “keys”, as well as electronic boarding passes. Some of these aspects are currently being researched and developed by Amadeus.
Amadeus has joined the BlackBerry ISV Alliance Program, which is supporting Amadeus developing applications for the BlackBerry platform, which will be available later this year. These applications include allowing travellers to download their trip information straight onto their BlackBerry. Our aim is to develop functionalities that will enhance the travellers’ experience with new levels of convenience and flexibility.
Specifically in Asia Pacific, Amadeus has launched the latest version of its SMS solution which allows travel agents to contact their customers via SMS regardless of the traveller’s location.
3) How fast are the emerging markets of India and China taking on board Amadeus solutions, and what challenges do you face in these markets?
India has a strong tourism market and a growing corporate travel sector. We have seen that the travel industry in India recognises the importance of leveraging technology to give them the competitive edge. Over 9,500 travel agencies in 172 cities across India provide customers with travel content via the Amadeus GDS. Amadeus India has a 50% market share in the country. Taj and Golden Tulip are two major hotel chains that use Amadeus’ hotel solutions, while Amadeus also recently announced a deal with MakeMyTrip.com, the largest travel portal in both India, for Amadeus Web Services to power all its airline bookings.
China is a country of staggering potential. However, the travel industry is still in its development stages and a recent study we undertook with PhoCusWright found that use of automated IT systems remains limited. Tight market regulation also limits technology, and the travel industry in China is only able to use TravelSky, China’s local Computer Reservation System (CRS).
Amadeus is working closely with our partners in China to help them use cutting-edge IT solutions to achieve these aims. Today, Amadeus’ e-Commerce solution powers the websites of all the major airlines in Greater China. Amadeus is working closely with TravelSky and the authorities in trying to open up the market.
4) The global economic situation is having a severe impact on the travel industry. What impact is this having on Amadeus’ own business, and how can Amadeus solutions help companies manage themselves through the downturn?
Although the current economic environment is affecting us all in the travel industry, we feel that Amadeus is performing slightly better than the competition. We have increased global market share from 33.9% in 2007 to 35.6% in 2008. We are focusing on ensuring that our business and that of our customers are fortified further to weather the downturn. Technology is critical to enhance revenues and save costs, and the smart industry players will be looking to utilise technology to strengthen business practices, streamline work flows and provide additional services.
5) What developments are we likely to see from Amadeus in 2009 and beyond?
Amadeus will continue to support our travel partners and use our leading technologies to facilitate their growth as well as our own. There are a numerous initiatives underway for the coming year and beyond, some of which have been mentioned already, concerning mobile technology, and some of which I am able to mention here.
In the airline business, we began the roll out of the Amadeus Retailing Platform last year, and this year, a merchandising functionality via the travel agency channel will be launched. In addition, a new online search technology will be launched, to allow people to search in a much easier and more natural way. In addition, there are going to be some major rail distribution announcements taking place in Q2 which we cannot yet talk about.
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