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Amadeus continues to grow its business in the Asia Pacific region despite the challenging economic conditions. In the first quarter of 2009, Amadeus expanded its market share by 2.1 percentage points to reach 32.8%, making it the number one GDS in the region. Travel bookings at Amadeus Asia Pacific contracted by 4 percent in 2008, but this decrease was comparatively less than the GDS market as a whole, which fell by 7 percent. Amadeus Asia Pacific also processed more than 40% of all online bookings in the region – the clear leader in the market.
Amadeus also saw substantial demand for its cutting-edge airline IT solutions. The company’s next generation Altéa Customer Management System (CMS) was selected by the Star Alliance as its official technology platform. Amadeus also completed the full migration of Qantas to the Altéa Departure Control solution in 2008, making Qantas the first airline in the world to become fully operational on the entire Altéa CMS. Other leading airlines in Asia Pacific such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have also adopted the Altéa CMS.
These milestones were announced by David Brett, President, Amadeus Asia Pacific, at a media briefing at the company’s regional headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.
“We are very pleased that in spite of the current economic environment, Amadeus continues to gain ground against its competitors,” said David Brett. “Thanks to globalisation, travel – both corporate and leisure – is a necessity today. The travel industry in Asia Pacific has proven in the past to be extremely resilient, recovering quickly through crises such as the SARS epidemic and natural disasters. Companies are also increasingly recognising the important role of technology in improving efficiency, and profitability, and are selecting Amadeus as their IT partner because our solutions are the best in the market. We expect to see consistent demand for our IT even in these tough times, and bookings – online and through travel agencies – to pick up rapidly as the economy recovers.”
In Thailand, from an already commanding market share position, Amadeus continued to grow by an additional 1 percent in 2008 to reach 76%. Despite the financial crisis and political unrest, arrivals in the country dipped by only 1 percent to hit 14.3 million in 2008.
“Thailand has been central to our strong performance as a company in the Asia Pacific region. Our key partnerships with major Thai travel players such as Thai Airways and Centara Hotels have helped Amadeus to go from strength to strength in the home market of our Asia Pacific head office. We continue to see major opportunities for growth in Thailand, as it becomes a more mature market with a stronger influence on the global tourism industry,” Brett added.
Amadeus Asia opened its head office 14 years ago in Bangkok, Thailand. Today the company employs approximately 250 people in Bangkok alone, and is a strong advocate for Thailand as an ideal location to base regional operations. Amadeus Asia provides important support to the Thai tourism and the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events (MICE) sector. The company works with travel associations and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to organise activities and events that bring industry professionals together. In recent years, Amadeus has organised and sponsored trade and consumer events that have brought thousands of visitors to Thailand.
Amadeus Asia also promotes the ongoing education of the travel industry through free education courses and GDS access at Thai universities, as well as regular training sessions conducted at facilities in the Bangkok office. Hundreds of employees and customers are trained in Amadeus’ Executive Briefing Centre in Bangkok every year, keeping their skills and IT knowledge up-to-date.
Today, Amadeus Asia is not only the fastest growing distribution system in the Asia Pacific region, but also a leading provider of IT solutions for the travel industry.
Brett said, “Amadeus’ success in this part of the world can be attributed to our 1,400-strong regional team, which fuses our global expertise and IT experience with in-market intelligence to offer customised, innovative solutions and round-the-clock service to our customers.
“We also invest heavily in R&D efforts to produce new technologies and research studies to inspire debate in the industry, more than any other travel technology company in Asia Pacific. This, combined with our world-leading Global Distribution System (GDS), uniquely positions Amadeus as not only a travel bookings company but a total solutions provider to our partners.”
Amadeus Asia Pacific has offices in 39 countries and territories in the region. The company has more than 19,500 travel agency customers, 92 airlines, and almost 200 hotel partners in Asia Pacific.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
