Amadeus, a leading global provider of marketing, distribution and technology services for travel and hospitality, will be at ATM for the sixth time this year.
The company has just launched a new insurance product. “We will showcase our new line of products for the travel and hospitality industry and are also looking forward to meet our new and existing customers at ATM to update them on our new products,” said Faris B Azzee, director, sales for Dubai and Northern Emirates, Amadeus Gulf.
“We will have solutions for airlines, hotels and for travel agencies. Our new products and solutions will be at the stand and we will have live demos of these solutions for visitors at our stand.”
The company has gained global market each year since its IPO in 1999. Globally, Amadeus had 31 per cent of the market in travel agency air bookings in 2006, up 1.74 per cent year-on-year.
For the Middle East and Africa, Amadeus claimed 30 per cent of the market share in 2006. Regionally, Amadeus is installed on more than 11,600 travel agency terminals and eight airlines have chosen Amadeus solution as their own sales and reservation system, including Egypt Air, Etihad, MEA and Qatar Airways.
Among its agency clients are Al Shamel Travel and Satguru.
Amadeus has been very active in the region for the past eight years, said Azzee. Nine local Amadeus Commercial Organizations or ACOs, in Egypt, Gulf, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Palestine, service 14 countries and Amadeus is extending its foothold in the region.
Azzee said the Middle East region is a key market for Amadeus, wherein it enjoys a healthy growth rate and strong working relation with both local and international firms operating in this region. “The boom in the region’s tourism and hospitality sector means that companies in the service industry are expected to offer efficient and prompt service to their customers. This is where the Amadeus IT solution plays an important role, by enhancing product-ivity and effectively managing available resources.”
Globally, Amadeus processed 499.5 million bookings in 2006. Online air bookings grew by 25.5 per cent and now represent 16.2 per cent of total air bookings. Amadeus reported revenues of 2,683 million euros ($3,634 million) for the year ended 2006, up 10.9 per cent as compared to the previous year.
INSURANCE
Amadeus has announced the implementation of Amadeus Insurance, a pioneering solution that enables travel agencies to automatically issue insurance policies at the planning stage of travel. Travel agents will be able to book products of AIG, specialist provider of travel and leisure insurance policies and launch partner of Amadeus Gulf, through the Amadeus system.
Amadeus Insurance is a fully automated booking tool that integrates fully with a travel agency’s existing booking systems and back office. Information stored in the travel details included in the passenger record (PNR) is used to calculate the insurance premium value, so this information doesn’t need to be re-entered. The whole process takes place online and sale details are automatically sent to the agency back office and to the insurance provider.
Benefits to agencies include earning high commission more efficiently, easy-to-use intuitive interface, booking in one to three keystrokes, reduced errors through reliable booking application, pre-selected preferred insurance provider, full integration within the Amadeus central reservation system and back office functions, customer and itinerary details automatically input from the PNR, on-line sales reporting and 30-minute training.
By Clark Kelly