During a recent trip to Europe, I saw our company again through new eyes…
I spoke with a group of journalists who had travelled from Asia Pacific to Europe where they were attending presentations about what the future of travel will bring and the very latest in travel technology innovation.
The group had just come from Erding, and expressed their amazement at the immense scale of our data facility. One journalist referred to it as the ‘brain’ of travel. I smiled when I heard this. I too consider our data centre as the ‘brain’, the nerve centre of our operations; and our people as our ‘heart’, keeping our business moving forward and demonstrating our partnership approach on the ground every day.
A lot has changed since my first trip to Erding over 18 years ago. In those days I was working in Madrid, and Amadeus was focused on its very successful Global Distribution Systems (GDS) business. Today, I’m based in Bangkok and Amadeus has extended its success beyond the GDS and into sophisticated travel IT. Asia Pacific has become the region to watch, where growth opportunities are plentiful – not something that many regions can boast in the current economic climate.
We’re seeing stronger spending power from emerging markets which is leading to demand for more sophisticated services and products. And in turn, that demand is acting as a catalyst for innovation, to meet Asia-specific needs.
I shared with our media guests in Nice the four key trends that I believe will shape the future of travel in Asia Pacific:
- Choice – with a myriad of options and information available, travel is becoming more complex, and the industry needs to simplify the choices in order to appeal to travellers
- Standards – having common standards and practices across the industry will help to ensure that traveller expectations are met and we can all continue on our growth trajectory
- Outsourcing – while not a new concept, the travel industry is increasingly outsourcing specific business functions to expert vendors. For example, airlines and travel agencies are outsourcing IT functions to Amadeus, so they can focus on customer service
- Collaboration – our industry’s success depends on a higher level of collaboration between all players, and I firmly believe that Amadeus’ community-based model is the way of the future.
While we might be seen as the brain of travel, our true goal is to develop technology that simplifies travel to help make life easier for everyone on the move. The next time you travel, perhaps it was Amadeus powering your journey?
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