The new agreement with AXESS, the Japan Airlines-owned GDS, to roll out a new travel agents solution by early October will put Travelport in a leading position “with the best platform for quite a long time” in Japan, said Kurt Ekert, Travelport chief commercial officer.
He, however, could not disclose what kind of market share Travelport would grab with this “best in breed” travel agency offering.
Pictured (L-R): Ueki-san (CEO, JAL), Kurt Ekert (COO,Travelport), Simon Nowroz (President & MD, emerging markets, Travelport), Kamikawa-san (senior board member, JAL), Nakano-san (CEO, AXESS)
The roll-out of the new upgraded travel booking platform, which will be made available to AXESS-connected travel agents from October, follows the partnership signed between AXESS and Travelport in April.
Ekert said the development was significant for the Japanese travel trade because it marries Travelport’s technology capabilities in terms of shopping content and AXESS’ CREA agency desktop.
The upgraded GDS technology will provide travel agents with new benefits including: up-to-date web services solutions; low fare, air shopping technology through Travelport’s fares and shopping platform, enhanced hotel and car content and improved airline connectivity.
“For Travelport, Japan is very strategic in terms of size and potential. It gives us growth and opportunity for Japan and allows us to compete in partnership with an entity with great local knowledge.”
And unlike in China, where access by GDS is limited by regulation – the recent deregulation of the Chinese market to allow foreign GDSs to participate only applies to foreign sectors currently – Ekert said, “We have aspirations to participate more broadly in the travel agency community in Japan – the limitation here is not regulation.”
Ekert, who’s been watching the Japanese market for the last several years, said, “Japan operates in unique traditions in travel distribution, what we have built with AXESS is a platform to service traditional and online agents in both corporate and leisure. But the market is also changing and the dynamics are similar – channel shift to online, increasing use of mobile for both corporate and leisure and increased transparency of information.
“For travel agents, having the best possible solution is key so they become as well-informed as their customers.”
Ekert said that traditional tour operators in Japan have made successful transitions to the online world, helped by strong content and product.
“The key is you cannot change the customers. They have absolute transparency to information and more are going mobile. The intermediaries who adapt will be the ones to survive.”
With packages a big part of the Japanese market, Ekert said travel agents will have to become more creative and clever about putting packages together “and we provide content to enable them to do that”.
Low cost airlines have “played a meaningful part” in changing the market – there are 65 low cost carriers participating in Travelport today – but network carriers in Japan have also responded favourably and adapted their model to compete, he said.
Despite challenges that have hampered the growth of the Japanese travel market, Ekert said that Japan remains one of the leading countries in domestic, inbound and outbound travel.
“The mood in Japan is very positive right now. The travel market seems to be bullish – airlines are making investments – and there are opportunities to operate with greater efficiencies, both online and offline, and I foresee intermediaries continuing to grow substantially.”
AXESS-connected travel agents will migrate to the new AXESS host system in a phased manner starting October 1, with completion scheduled for the end of March next year.
