Air travel tech provider to focus on country's e-ticketing market
Amadeus, a global travel technology provider, has plans to lay more emphasis on Bangladesh's e-ticketing market by introducing its latest technology.
The company said in order to retain the existing market share and to comply with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mandate, it has already introduced e- ticketing in Bangladesh.
According to the IATA mandate, Amadeus officials said no tickets can be issued by a Global Distribution Systems (GDS) agent other than an e-ticket after June 1, 2008. Any paper tickets that need to be issued will be done directly by the airlines. The booking and selling of tickets for multiple airlines is known as the global distribution system.
Keeping the IATA mandate in mind, Amadeus already provided its solutions to its agents in Bangladesh. The company also trained its agents to handle the e-ticketing system.
“As a GDS service provider, our commitment to IATA was that our ticketing system would be based on 100 percent e-ticketing system,” Carneiro said. “Our office in Bangladesh is ready to provide any solutions the travel agents need to introduce e-ticketing mechanism.”
GDS companies in Bangladesh issued 0.8 million tickets in 2007, 95 percent of which were e-tickets, he said.
Airlines have divested most of their direct holdings to dedicated GDS companies, who make their systems accessible to the consumers through internet gateways. Modern GDS systems typically allow users to book hotel rooms and rent cars, in addition to rail and airline tickets.
In Bangladesh, apart from Amadeus, there are three other GDS companies, Galileo, Abacus and Worldspan. Out of the 700 travel agents, 480 are connected with the Amadeus GDS solution. GTD Bangla Pvt Ltd represents Amadeus in Bangladesh.
Carneiro is optimistic about the future of e-ticketing in Bangladesh and said, “We are confident that we will continue to increase our market share in Bangladesh, alongside the expansion of the market itself. We have a positive outlook on the future market.”
The company claims to be occupying the leading position in the market with a 42 percent market share.
According to high officials of the company, the number of airline ticket bookings by the travel agents via Amadeus systems increased from 32 percent in December 2007 to 42 percent in April 2008.
“Our GDS system in Bangladesh is most preferred and we are the market leaders in terms of market share. The comprehensive content that we provide and our high service levels and functionality is superior,” said Charles P Carneiro, head of marketing and corporate communications of Amadeus Indian Subcontinent.
“As we provide travel technology solutions to the entire industry, we are able to offer cutting edge technology to travel agents far beyond the traditional GDS domanin. Travel agents also feel secure to book on the Amadeus system, which significantly helps increase our market share in Bangladesh,” he said while presenting a keynote paper on the activities of Amadeus in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the company's regional office in Bangkok recently.
Through GTD Bangla Pvt Ltd, Amadeus provides a wide range of products including front office, mid-office and back office solutions for travel agents.
Bangladesh's outbound traffic consists mainly of labourers and pilgrims to the Middle Eastern countries, comprising of 70 percent of the total traffic. The remaining outbound traffic comprises of 20 percent corporate clients and 10 percent leisure clients.
In the case of inbound traffic, foreign tourists represent less than 20 percent. Amadeus officials said this is a source market for Bangladesh and they can focus on it in the coming years.
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