Amadeus upgrades pioneering SMS tool to offer international coverage

Bangkok, Thailand (Asia Pacific), 7 January 2009:  Amadeus, a leading global technology and distribution partner to the travel industry, has launched the latest version of its SMS solution for travel agents, which includes improved global coverage.

The updated Amadeus SMS solution, developed in Asia Pacific, allows travel agents to contact their customers via SMS regardless of the traveller’s location anywhere in the world. The new version is now fully integrated into the Amadeus Selling Platform, allowing travel agents to quickly generate traveller data – including information on flight changes and confirmations, warnings about time limits on bookings, as well as e-ticketing and insurance – directly from the Amadeus PNR database.

Olivier Froger, Director of the Innovation Team in Amadeus Asia Pacific’s Business Solutions Group (BSG), said, “Today’s traveller is concerned with convenience. They use their mobile phone to manage multiple tasks because it offers an immediate and interactive channel of communication as well as global access to contacts and information. The Amadeus SMS solution allows travel agents to communicate via the mobile phone, which is time-saving and non-intrusive for the customer, and cost-saving for the travel agent – eliminating the need for faxes or international phone calls.

“With this new version of the solution, the customer can be contacted via SMS whether they are in Asia, Europe, the United States or anywhere in the world. At Amadeus, we invest heavily in developing new solutions that help address new trends and challenges in the travel and tourism industry. The Amadeus SMS is very much a part of our continuous commitment to the evolution of technology for travel agents right here in the Asia Pacific region.”

Released in May 2008, the Amadeus SMS solution was introduced as an industry-first web-based tool for travel agents. It has since been well-received and successfully implemented in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

Froger continued, “The popularity of Amadeus SMS corresponds closely with the trend of technology convergence on mobile devices. Recently, in collaboration with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), Amadeus conducted a study on mobile technology, called Upwardly Mobile. The results showed that almost all respondents saw the benefits of receiving information while on the road, for increased convenience as well as security.

Albert Villadolid, Amadeus Phils. General Manager said, “This is particularly relevant to the Philippines, which has one of the highest communications technology and mobile phone adoption in the world. Over the next few months, we expect a double digit growth of Amadeus agency subscribers in the market adopting our latest mobile tool offering, as this tool will enable them to deliver superior service to their customers and clients.”

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