eyefortravel - Travel Distribution India '06

ITQ: Relevant, faster and user friendly technology is the need of the hour

ETW Staff

A pioneer in introducing technological solutions to the travel industry, ITQ - InterGlobe Technology Quotient, a strategic business unit of the InterGlobe Enterprises group of companies recently conducted a TQ Audit Expert Panel discussion to advise and recommend relevant solutions (technology, BPO & BPI consulting) to Indian travel agents. Just a month ago, ITQ, which is the official distributor of Galileo, one of the leading providers of electronic Global Distribution Systems (GDS) in India, announced the launch of the new, enhanced Galileo ViewTrip in the country. Galileo ViewTrip is a widely used tool by the travel agents and their customers and has now been enhanced in its applications and usability.

"Technology is going to be a key driver of the future. We are using our technological expertise to integrate total travel content on to the travel agent's desktop. Today most travel agents are selling airline via the GDS. They sell hotels from either different Web sites or from wholesale hotel agents. They then have to book LCCs (Low Cost Carriers) from different Web sites. All these bookings lead to multiple billing for one client. This we believe is time consuming and ineffective. At Galileo we have effectively used technology and new products to collate all the content into a single desktop," stated Bruce Hanna, COO, Galileo India.

Technology will enable the booking process to be easier for all channels. "Trends in other markets indicate that 'dynamic packaging' can be an enabler for all the enablers - this allows air, and full ground packages including car rental, hotel, tours to be brought together to match the travellers needs. The traveller is becoming a lot more demanding and needs to have access to specific information at exactly the right time. Example- the business traveller is in Paris and needs a restaurant reservation at a five-star restaurant tonight - he also needs tickets to the theatre and he needs to be able to book this on his handheld device - we must be able to provide that for him," informed Hanna.

When quizzed about the possible new trends in technology in GDS segment and the impact of e-business and m-business on the role of GDS in travel trade, Hanna said, "Clearly the trend we have seen is the emerging online market and we are very focused towards the same. We are already providing solutions to the Indian travel fraternity for e-business via Internet Booking Engines and customised online booking sites, a case in point is the recently launched travel portal-Xplorz.com. Galileo provides the back end connectivity of this portal and ITQ have done the development of the Booking Engine locally. This portal is the first portal in India that can issue online e-tickets directly to the end traveller."

According to Hanna, in future the company is looking at bringing more non-air content to the agency desktop. Non air bookings like hotels, cars, transfers, sightseeing, cruise bookings have historically constituted a very small segment of the GDS bookings and this is slated to grow in the near future.