Travel agents continue to shun website tools

There is still space for local agencies to tap online business, but travel website owners should not overlook the need to market their sites to build online sales.

That was the conclusion of a Thai-Amadeus Southeast Asia seminar, held  last Friday, with IT partners and travel agents.

The seminar themed “Winning in the Online Travel Agency Business,” attracted 100 travel agencies, keen to develop their business online in the face of competition from online dot.com companies.

The seminar presented the latest updates on online booking tools and information on how travel agencies could upgrade websites with an online payment channel.

Seminar speaker and Infogination managing director, Trawut Luangsomboon, said online marketing makes the difference between success and failure in today’s business environment.

“Your website must show a clear benefit and relevance to customers who visit it. If you can save them money or show a higher degree of flexibility in booking and payment conditions it helps to gain business online.”

He was alluding to the practice of offering interest free payment schedules for travel packages that allow the traveller to pay a deposit and pay off the cost in instalments over one year.

Mr Trawut said online social networking was a ‘hot’ issue to consider, but also the more direct approach of sending out email broadcasts could be used to keep in touch with clients.

Travel agents, who use an email newsletter that links to their websites, generally report a substantial spike in visits to the website directly after the email is sent out.

Agents estimate the spike can be as high as a six-fold increase in visits over the  daily average.

Thai-Amadeus Southeast Asia director commercial, Somkiat Rungthaveephon, reported that Amadeus had a range of back-of-the-house tools that could be bolted on to a travel agents’ website to make it more useful, while further automating the process.

“Unfortunately, few travel agencies implement online booking tools on their websites. This means for the agent, who is prepared to adopt them, it is a definite advantage, giving them the edge in a very competitive market. You will be able to expand your business, customer base, as well as increase revenue,” said Mr Somkiat.

Based on Thai-Amadeus travel agencies studies, only 130 agencies countrywide, have adopted booking tools on their websites.

There are 8,968 travel agencies in Thailand (all travel-related sectors) and 388 travel agencies using GDS terminals through the Iata BSP system that processes ticket payments and bookings for all airlines operating in Thailand.

Online booking conducted though the online front-end booking engine recorded around 3,000 transactions in the first half of this year, way off the millions of transactions processed through the traditional GDS channels.

Global distribution systems connect travel agents to airline fare and booking databases through SITA lines as opposed to the internet.

Most Thai travel agents are slow to see the worth of adding an internet channel to their preferred GDS platforms. Staff are trained to use GDSs such as Amadeus, Abacus or Galileo. These companies provide support, the systems are reliable and payment is seamless through the Iata BSP.

Adding a website requires a learning curve at staff level, expensive maintenance and the need to work with banks to provide secure payments with an assortment of fees and commissions.

However, the standard argument that travel agents do not need to establish a website is short-sighted and experts agree it will ultimately lead to travel agencies closing, or down-sizing operations as markets reshape.

Amadeus and other GDS providers offer solutions.

According to Mr Somkiat, Thai-Amadeus Southeast Asia partnered with a software design company, AISOFT, to develop a front-end booking solution for travel agency websites, called Plus IBE, that is based on Amadeus’ API technology.

Plus IBE was initially launched in Thailand in late 2005, with little success, but a new version, Plus IBE Master,  has been simplified, making it more user-friendly for end-users. Its designers say it improves the chance of closing a sale as there are few clicks and process to complete.

Relaunched at the seminar, Plus IBE Master covers all airline content, and other related travel services. It has access to full Amadeus GDS content. It offers more flexibility for administrators to define the commission mark-up, and interface with payment gateways such as local banks.