Travelport launches Search Control Console

Travelport, a distribution services and e-commerce provider to the travel industry, has announced the global launch of its new Search Control Console, a tool to customise searches in real time.

The application enables agencies to centrally control over 35 rules and parameters to fine tune the relevancy of search results to their traveller’s needs, and to quickly capture business opportunities. Travelport’s Search Control Console is a web-based solution that enables agencies to configure air shopping search parameters according to individual traveller needs.

The Search Control Console removes the burden of labour-intensive ‘intelligence coding’, or the need to continually send instructions to frontline sales staff, saving both time and money. Agencies can also leverage the Travelport Search Control Console to achieve important financial objectives. Search modifiers within the application can be applied to meet airline sales targets.

The Travelport Search Control Console application is available to subscribers to the Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan systems worldwide. For more information, visit the TravelportTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/TravelportTube), or click here to view the video demonstration.

Sun International property promotions and GDS code

Sun International has launched a South African government rate sales strategy for the 2014 financial year.

“We have tailor-made our customer offering to better manage and increase government and public sector business into key Sun International properties,” said Ian Anderson, General Manager Resort Sales and Distribution.

It has a team dedicated to reach all divisions of the public sector, including municipalities, local, provincial and national government.

It’s also conducting a marketing blitz in Sandton, Johannesburg to promote its new property there, The Maslow. From 1 July to 30 November, sales staff will visit corporate companies within a five-kilometre radius of the hotel, to inform local businesses of its offerings.

Sun International has also partnered with Travelport, and its private label GDS (Global Distribution System) chain code, SQ, will officially go live on 12 July. Targeted at travel management companies, a single code will be more convenient for travel professionals, enabling them to easily locate and book Sun International’s hotel rooms on the GDS.

Travelport cements UST&T partnership

Travelport has announced the renewal of its 15-year partnership with Uniglobe Skylink Travel & Tours (UST&T) – one of Tanzania’s most established corporate travel management companies.

The two parties have signed a new five-year contract, and UST&T has designs on becoming “the leading and most dependable travel-related management company in Africa.

Under the new agreement, UST&T will gain access to Travelport’s latest technology solutions, including Agentivity – Travelport’s business intelligence suite for travel agents – and Travelport Mobile Agent, the mobile Global Distribution Systems (GDS) application that enables agents to gain full access to Travelport content from their iPad or iPhone device.

Travelport Unveils Egypt Investment

According to breakingnewstravel, Travelport has unveiled plans to invest further in Egypt. In a study co-sponsored by Travelport and conducted by market research company Pho-CusWright, the findings were that the travel industry in Egypt is set to start recovering in the near future, with the tourism sector predicted to grow from $5.1bn in 2012 to $5.9bn in 2014.
 As such, Travelport has emphasised its focus on Egypt as a strategic investment region, by unveiling a robust business strategy for the country, based on Travelport’s four pillars of investment: Unrivalled Content, Intelligent Search, Empowered Selling Experience and Open Platform.
 In the next 18 months Travelport will introduce a range of new products to Egypt’s travel trade, including the Document Producer Plus, a product that allows subscribers to produce numerous documents from a PNR, and Rapid Reprice, Travelport’s revenue management tool.
 Since the start of 2013, Travelport has also launched a number of other new solutions in Egypt, including Agentivity, Travelport’s business intelligence suite, and Travelport Merchandising Platform. Later this year, Travelport will also start offering a ‘floor walker’ service to new customers, to insure smooth migration to Travelport systems.
Travelport will also continue to invest in mobile and online technologies to complement existing products such as Travelport Mobile Agent, which enables Travelport-connected agents to gain access to Galileo desktop from their smartphone, and Travelport View Trip Mobile, the itinerary management tool.

Travelport and Air France-KLM Sign Agreement

Travelport and Air France-KLM have announced a multi-year global distribution agreement, providing all Travelport-connected users with full content.
The agreement includes ancillary services such as Economy Comfort and Seat Plus. Travelport-connected agents will also gain access to full content from Air France’s new regional carrier HOP!, which offers extensive flights in and around France, as well as to a host of other European cites.
"We are delighted to reach a mutually beneficial, full content agreement with Air France-KLM”, said Robin Ranken, Travelport Head of Supplier Europe. "We will continue to work with Air France, KLM and HOP! to distribute their products the way they want, including any new content or merchandising options."

Travelport and Webjet Extend Partnership

Travelport has announced that, following the recent acquisition of Zuji, Webjet has appointed Travelport as Zuji’s global distribution partner. Webjet, which has a long-term partnership with Travelport, has already begun the migration of Zuji onto its GDS platform. Webjet, the largest online travel agency in Australia and New Zealand, enables customers to search and book domestic and international flights, travel insurance, car hire and hotel accommodation worldwide. Travelport has been the exclusive GDS and air content provider for Webjet for many years. With this extended partnership, Zuji customers in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong will soon have access to Travelport’s technology and content – including airlines’ web fares and full published inventories.

Quickbeds Joins Travelport

Travelport has announced that Quickbeds.com has joined its hotel booking engine, Travelport Rooms and More.
The implementation of hotel content from Quickbeds.com will provide an additional 4,200 Australian-based hotel offerings to the already extensive Travelport Rooms and More database. Quickbeds.com, which is a division of Flight Centre, is the 21st supplier to be implemented in Travelport Rooms and More since the engine was launched in 2011.
The engine was introduced by Travelport to help travel agents improve the efficiency of searching for hotel content across numerous websites and aggregators. It searches multiple sources on behalf of the user and returns an easy-to-read list of accommodation choices that optimises content choice and potential commission revenue earned.
The commission on Travelport Rooms and More is on par or better than current solutions and is paid directly via Travelport as a single consolidated payment, simplifying the reconciliation process. Travelport Rooms and More is now available to travel agencies in over 70 countries, and in six languages - English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish. Visit www.travelportroomsandmore.com for more information.

Travelport Establishes Operation in Kenya

Travelport has launched a new direct commercial presence in Kenya. Travelport currently operates in 47 countries across the continent and East Africa is firmly in the group’s sights.

 No surprise, considering the healthy GDP growth in the region, which is expected to reach 5.6% in East Africa in 2013. Since 1997, Galileo, a Travelport global distribution system, has grown as the leading GDS in East Africa and was previously distributed in Kenya by Kenya Airways.

 With the new Travelport operation for travel agents now in place and an expanded Travelport team on the ground, the travel technology provider plans to introduce new customer support services and deploy a wide range of innovative products over the coming months, all aimed at helping Kenyan travel agents take advantage of the region’s growth and earn new revenues.

To head up the new Kenya team, Travelport has appointed Rajab Itambo as General Manager for Kenya. In addition, he will have responsibility for Travelport’s business in Tanzania. Over the past year, Travelport has been steadily growing its presence in Africa with the acquisition of its Galileo operation in Southern Africa last May, and the entry into 10 new African countries over the past 12 months.

 As well as investing in an expanded African network, Travelport has also deployed new travel agency solutions across the continent, including new mobile offerings, such as Travelport Mobile Agent, and new point of sale technology, such as Travelport Smartpoint. It has also secured numerous full content agreements with many of Africa’s fast-growing airlines and tripled the hotel content available in its system.  

Travelport Launches Business Intelligence Suite

Travelport has launched a new business intelligence suite - Agentivity - to benefit agents in the Middle East and Africa with handling data from anywhere in the world.
Agentivity brings together a wide range of tools that offer travel providers a unique and detailed insight into their agency’s activity, client behaviour, booking-related issues, and more.

The suite allows automation of corporate reporting by doing queue forwarding, corporate data mailing, as well as giving corporate clients direct access to their organisation’s booking data. Access is instant, online, and has data updates that are available 24/7 with no process changes for agents.
The process is fully automated and offers complete transparency over any bookings, and allows agents to address any problems timeously. Rabih Saab, President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Travelport said Agentivity is an invaluable business service for busy travel agency customers by providing realtime data, 24/7, from anywhere in the world, and added that "it can significantly improve agent efficiency by aggregating data from multiple suppliers and sources in one place, as well as providing access to valuable customer data, such as advanced booking patterns.”
Agentivity was created for Travelport by Inside Group, a technology company that specialises in the travel industry.

New ASATA CEO

 The board of the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA) has announced the appointment of Otto de Vries as the new Chief Executive Officer of the association. He replaces Robyn Christie, who left to join Travelport in October. De Vries has 24 years of experience in the travel industry and the ASATA board want him to take the organisation into a new era.
“Otto brings a wealth of experience and a wonderful energy,” said Claude Vankeirsbilck, President of ASATA. “He is well versed with ASATA and its plans going forward, and I am confident he will implement the strategy of ‘Compliance, Confidence, Consensus’ most effectively.” De Vries will start at ASATA on 2 January. “I’m looking forward to the challenge and in particular working with the industry on issues that affect us all,” said De Vries. “ASATA will continue to make a difference and implementing the new strategy will be an exciting time for us all.”

Travelport and Qantas Sign Agreement

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has announced a new long-term agreement with Qantas Airways. The new agreement ensures Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo-connected travel agents worldwide have access to Qantas’ full published inventory, including ancillary content such as paid seating, consistent with the airline’s website.
 Last year, Travelport subscribers received full GDS access to the Qantas advance seat selection product, following the introduction of a new booking capability enabling agents to book and pay for preferred seats on Qantas flights via their desktop.

Travelport Trials New Service

Travelport is trialling a new service which will allow travel agents to book private car transfers via the GDS. Targeting selected Galileo-connected travel agents in Asia, the new Travelport ‘Drive Me’ solution works with two car rental companies to provide access to 21 airports in China, India, the Philippines and Singapore.
 Pending the completion of a successful trial, Travelport plans to make this service available to all Galileo-connected travel agents worldwide. By booking with Travelport via the GDS, agents are able to automate the process and bookings are integrated back into the passenger name record (PNR).
The tool uses the functionality of the Galileo CarMaster system and transmits flight and destination details to the transfer provider. All bookings through Travelport Drive Me will be commissionable at between five and 10%.

Travelport Appoints Christie

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has announced the appointment of seasoned industry professional, Robyn Christie, as its new general manager for Southern Africa.
Based at Travelport’s offices in Johannesburg from 1 October, Christie will have overall responsibility for Travelport’s strategic objectives and commercial operations in Southern Africa, as well as overseeing the introduction of new Travelport technology to customers in the region. Christie’s career spans over 30 years in the corporate world, spending the past 15 years in the retail travel industry.
She joins Travelport from ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents), where she has held the position of CEO since 2007.

Travelport increases African Footprint

Travelport has signed a new 16-country distributor agreement with Dubai-based Satguru Travel & Tourism, Africa’s largest travel company outside of South Africa. The GDS provider will grow its African network from 27 to 41 countries and grow its existing GDS operations in a further two.

 The strategic partnership is in line with Travelport’s ongoing strategy to invest and grow in the fast-growing African continent, and it takes effect immediately.

 Under the agreement, Satguru will set up operations and run the National Distributor Centres for Travelport in the following countries: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan and Togo.


In the countries where Satguru is not the Travelport distributor, a subscriber agreement has been signed, which includes 11 African countries, plus Afghanistan, India, the UAE and Yemen.

Travelport will also offer customers a number of Satguru’s industry-leading e-commerce applications, as part of the deal.

Last year, flight bookings made through the GDS channel in Africa increased by 7.7% and the trend looks set to continue as economists predict that the average GDP across the continent will increase by 4.7% in 2012 and 5.7% in 2013.