Financial challenges notwithstanding, Travelport believes its position as the most global GDS with an even spread throughout the world will hold it in good stead for future growth, particularly in Asia. Corinne Wan finds out what lies ahead for the company which is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. 

Travelport may be having its share of financial woes – it staved off declaring bankruptcy with a last-minute debt restructuring recently and critics are still sniping away at its overall financial health – but its management team remains bullish about growth and convinced that its global spread of business and continued innovation will see it through the challenging times ahead.

In Singapore to attend WIT and ITB Asia, Jason Nash, Travelport vice president, product innovation technology (pictured left), told WIT that he sees growth for the company coming from all parts of the world as it is present in the main global markets – Asia Pacific, Middle East/Africa, Europe and North America.

“Unlike Sabre that is strong in the US and Amadeus in Europe, we are well spread out throughout the world, with good potential for growth in the Asian region,” he said, adding that Singapore is its biggest market in the region while Thailand, the Philippines and Australia are strong markets.

“In Asia there are many small agencies and we could give them a global presence through our solutions.”

An example of a solution, which has helped travel agencies improve their efficiency and boost productivity, is the Travelport Universal Desktop, which competitors had dismissed as “when is this ever going to happen?” due to its long process towards implementation. Touted as a “groundbreaking booking solution”, it provides travel agents access to multi-source content and pricing, pricing and travel management tools through a single platform.

Nash said Travelport has signed agreements with six travel agencies in APAC to participate in the regional testing and development of Universal Desktop. The agencies in beta testing are  MP Travel and Orba Travel Brokers in Australia, Quotient Travel and Serangoon Air Travel in Singapore, SkyJet and Shalom in Hong Kong. All customers will commence beta testing shortly.

These new contracts follow successful agency trials from global launch partner – Australia’s Flight Centre and UK’s Global Travel Management. The former has rolled out Universal Desktop to its key markets around the world (Read story).

“Developing innovative tool/solutions is the direction Travelport will continue to pursue to empower our travel partners to search and book travel,” said Nash.

Elaborating on this, Niklas Andréen, Travelport group vice president, hospitality and partner marketing (pictured right) added that the company will also refine its traditional products to enhance the booking process.

“For example we’ll refine Travelport Rooms and More, a web-based point-of-sale tool,to enable aggregators to sell tickets and provide travel agencies with a seamless booking process, bookings.”

To date Rooms and More has been rolled out in 71 countries, with 2,000 registered agents.

For HotelClub, Orbitz/TravelPort network, one of the largest hotel reservation services on the Internet, more suppliers are being added to offer customers a wider choice of accommodation.

“We will build on what the market wants and develop as we go along,” Andréen added.

Travelport is also working with more hotels chains. Recently the company and Hilton Worldwide Inked an agreement committing more content and advanced technologies for travel buyers, which include the lowest available rates via the GDS and complete pricing for hotel stays.

The company has also just offered a new developer network programme that provides members with full access to key software resources, dedicated help and support and an entry in the new Travelport Developer Directory. (Read story)

A recent ground-breaking deal for the company is the joint development agreement with TravelSky Technology, China’s leading provider of information technology solutions, to develop advanced airline technology. The first project under this agreement is a collaboration on a new and innovative Master Seat Maps module –which applies marketing and customer value to the physical seat characteristics of a given aircraft. (pictured left)

“We will continue with our goals through such partnerships and develop solutions to meet the changing needs of the markets,” said Andréen

Nash added that to meet the challenges ahead, Travelport would focus on a few key projects and do them well – this includes customising apps using components like API, leveraging on mobile for B2B, and developing geo guides using Travelport Universal API to build them.

“There is a great future for the leisure market, and while our focus is on this market currently, we are also looking at the corporate market going forward.”

• Photos courtesy of Travelport