Upturn in Online Booking Helps Boost Amadeus e-Travel Growth

Upturn in Online Booking Helps Boost Amadeus e-Travel Growth
Madrid, 1 June 2005: A quarter of business trips undertaken by UK executives are now booked online, according to independent research* commissioned by e-Travel, the e-commerce business unit of Amadeus, the leading global provider of online travel technology. Travel management companies or corporate travel managers are regularly being used by 38% of business travellers to book their travel.

The research, conducted amongst over 600 UK business executives, echoes the worldwide trend observed by e-Travel, of business travel bookings moving online, which has contributed to e-Travel achieving a 47% year-on-year growth across its e-commerce business during Q1 2005 as travellers become more used to the online booking channel.

Jérôme Destors, Commercial Director of Amadeus e-Travel, said, "Business travellers want speed and convenience when it comes to booking and the online environment offers these options. The advantages for both travel management companies and business travellers are vast, which is why we invest so much money in continuing to enhance our online self-booking solutions in line with what the market wants."

As part of Amadeus e-Travel's continued investment in developing its self booking tools equalling millions of euros per annum, the company today announced the further enhancements of e-Travel® Aergo in response to feedback from travel management companies and business travellers.

Helping drive travel costs down and making the booking process simpler and more convenient for business travellers, Aergo now offers:

A fully integrated web search solution accessing more than 50 web sites, seamlessly integrating the search, selection and booking of low-cost carriers, other web travel options and rail content, including SNCF, Deutsche Bahn and now also Swedish Rail.
The ability for travellers to make side-by-side comparisons between web, scheduled air fares and rail travel options and book based on whether price, flexibility or schedule are key.
An enhanced online administration function, which enables travel managers to ensure travel policies are optimised in real-time to deliver the maximum savings according to companies' evolving travel policy. Thanks to an integrated reporting tool, all booking data is available to travel managers for analysis, reporting of travel spend and travel policy compliance and employee tracking.
Destors continued: "The travel industry is constantly evolving and technology needs to keep pace with the market. Aergo is the only truly global corporate online solution offered today, with a single platform integrating local content. By offering the most advanced workflow features available today coupled with comprehensive IT integration capabilities with Aergo offers corporations a solution that delivers travel savings in record time."

Notes to the editors:
* The Amadeus research was undertaken during May 2005 by independent market research company YouGov, among a GB representative sample of 612 business travellers.

Full details of the question are as follows:

Thinking about BUSINESS travel, when planning a business trip, which of the following, if any, do you usually use to BOOK your trip? [Please tick the one or two that you most often use].

Online travel agency (e.g. Opodo) 25%
Corporate travel manager / assistant books travel (via business travel agency) 25%
Direct with provider via a call centre (e.g. Airline, hotel, car rental etc) 19%
Direct with business travel agency (e.g. Carlson Wagonlit; American Express Business Travel) 13%
High street travel agency (e.g. Lunn Poly, Thomas Cook) 6%
None of these 13%