Amadeus to introduce booking systems for Lankan, Indian railways
Shirajiv Sirimane in Thailand
 Amadeus
Lanka has been maintaining a double digit growth throughout the past two
years in Sri Lanka.
The company which commenced operations in Sri Lanka in 1997 to
service the travel Agents' needs in the region had maintained a 12 per
cent growth year on year. "On average Asia Pacific had been maintaining
an 8 per cent growth and the double digit growth returned from both
India and Sri Lanka is very encouraging," Vice President, Corporate and
Marketing Communications Asia Pacific, Karun Budhraja said.
Speaking to Daily News Business he said Sri Lanka has been
maintaining this growth for the past three years and it is expected to
stay.
He said that while there is a somewhat check on out bound travel from
both US and Europe, Asia is witnessing an increase with China and India
leading the way.
Regional Manager Sri Lanka and the Maldives of Amadeus, Dennis
Fonseka said this growth has been stimulated mainly from the outbound
market.
|
Vice President Karun Budhraja and Country Manager Dennis Fonseka
in Bangkok.Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane. |
"This is an area which is fast developing. I think the arrival of
budget airlines, including Mihin Lanka has made travel affordable to
more," he said.
Amadeus Lanka the first GDS to begin operations in Sri Lanka has
already set benchmarks in servicing the travel agents. Amadeus Lanka
provides training to over 750 travel consultants every year.
Apart from extensive training facilities, Amadeus Lanka imparts help
desk, technical and product support to the travel agents as well
consulting and marketing services.
The major solutions offered in the market are front, mid and
back-office products, BSP Central ticketing for 18 carriers,
e-ticketing, e-commerce and consulting services.
Globally the travel agents' air line commissions are dipping and with
more budget carriers touching down in Colombo this is further being
shrinked. "In a bid to help the travel agent to be in business we are
now in the process of introducing a 'service fee manager' system. "Under
this the travel agent would be able to charge a service fee," he said.
He also said that Amadeus the first ticket writer product
(semi-automated) in 2000 are also now into hotel bookings as well and
travel agents could use this service to offer package tours with hotels
and thereby earn more.
"We are also looking at introducing our booking systems to both
Indian and Sri Lankan railways and we are getting a good response for
this," he said. |
