Abacus India Catalyses Travel Agent Transition With Non-Air Reservation Software

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

With travel agents backed into a corner as airline commissions have fallen from seven to five per cent, their traditional core business of ticketing is no longer the model of sustenance that it used to be. The only way out for ticketing agents could be a diversification of their existing service base to include hotel, car, cruise and various ancillaries. This ticketing trend is one that Abacus has been watching for some time and cites the coming months as the right time to push their existing non-air booking software among the agent community, opening up a new market for themselves as well as helping along a transition, crucial to the survival of the agent.

Viiveck Verma Most of this software has been available to agents for a while. I see the recent focus as a primarily re-energising exercise

Currently in the midst of its nine-city roadshow, Abacus has highlighted its non-air booking software for the agent community. According to Viiveck Verma, managing director, Abacus India, "Most of this software has been available to agents for a while. I see the recent focus as a primarily re-energising exercise. The penetration into some of the far-eastern markets has so far been fairly significant. In India, traditionally, the agents have been focussing on air tickets. I do not think however that receding airline commissions have a significant part to play in this marketing effort since we have know for a long time, the inevitability of commission cuts. It has more to do with the continuing evolution of the agent."

An Abacus senior sales executive revealed, "Right now, the air to non-air transaction volume ratio on GDS is 98 to two per cent. In future, we see this ratio change as airline commissions fall and newer avenues become accurate. Besides additional revenue, there are also the additional conveniences. Using the hotel reservation software, agents can make GDS bookings in just ten minutes at the cost of a single dollar while a conventional booking takes up to 18 minutes and costs the agent three and a half dollars."

Interestingly, the non-air booking software can be integrated with the airline reservations, so agents can use a single PNR number for a complete airline, hotel, cruise and car rental package or another combinations of the same.

Travel insurance is another growing segment in the travel retail space that agents have only recently begun to look at from a serious, revenue perspective. TATA AIG has allied with Abacus over the last two years to offer travel agents the facility of online purchase on behalf of their clients. According to a TATA AIG representative, "We have simplified the online purchase procedure considering there are different levels of insurance according to value of insurance and number of days. The commissions for agents depend on volumes and can be anywhere upward from 15 per cent. We are more likely to increase our commissions as both the traveller base and competition is set to rise."

Verma further stresses that, "The investment into evolving into a macro service provider here is virtually nil. I would
think we have helped catalyse a huge revenue opportunity shift. We are therefore integrating all these revenue streams on to a single platform with a seamless reservation process and integrated PNR, thereby helping the orthodox travel agent's make the transition smoothly."