One of Japan's largest providers of travel distribution products and services, AXESS agents and corporates will now be able to benefit from lower risk and lower cost payments with eNett VANs.
SINGAPORE – AXESS International Network Inc (AXESS), and eNett International, the leading provider of dedicated B2B travel payment solutions, have announced a partnership to transform the B2B travel payments landscape in Japan with eNett Virtual Account Numbers (VANs). Agents will be able to make payments from within their booking workflow when integration with AXESS CREA Advance is released1.
One of Japan’s largest providers of travel distribution products and services, AXESS agents and corporates will now be able to benefit from lower risk and lower cost payments with eNett VANs. Designed to address the payment pain-points of traditional travel payments, an eNett VAN is a unique 16-digit MasterCard number generated for each transaction making it a secure way to pay.
And importantly in Japan, where corporate travellers often use personal cards to make payments, VANs enable corporate agents to provide their travellers with a lower risk option that doesn’t rely on personal funding.
AXESS Director Yasushi Kubo said, “We are always looking for ways to enhance the experience of agents using our service. Once AXESS CREA Advance is available, VANs will make the entire payments process more efficient, saving agents valuable time that they can spend with their customers. The instant nature of VANs also means agents can take advantage of dynamic rates to offer their customers the best deals. We are pleased to be partnering with eNett to bring this innovation to our customers.”
The country’s tourism industry is growing rapidly. 2015 saw Japanese outbound travel reach 16.2 million, the second highest in Asia, after China2. eNett is demonstrating its commitment to bringing innovation in payments to Japan by expanding its operations there and hiring Nobuaki Matsudaira as its dedicated country manager. Nobu brings with him over 15 years of experience in the Hospitality and Travel industry. Prior to joining eNett, Nobu was Key Account Manager at Hotel Reservation Service, responsible for multinational enterprises in Japan.
eNett’s Managing Director and CEO, Anthony Hynes, said “Japanese travel and tourism is viewed as a key growth industry for the country. To optimise on the opportunity this presents, agents need to streamline operational processes to focus on growing business. VANs enable agencies to do just that, alleviating the burden of manual payments processing and reconciliation. We look forward to working with AXESS in supporting Japanese agents with their growth plans through cutting edge payments technology.”
The announcement comes in line with AXESS’s plans to offer an enhanced Japanese GDS to meet the demands of Japanese travel agents and travelers. Working in close collaboration with Travelport, the two companies have announced they are rolling out a superior agency desktop, designed specifically for the needs of Japanese travel agents.
1 Planned for release in 2017
2 Japan National Tourism Organisation
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
