ATP -World Of Travel Technology

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Disintermediation Noun - to remove an intermediate or layer from a process or transaction.

Gary Hance, Yield and Technology Director for ATP, is widely acknowledged as, in his words, the grandfather of online travel booking systems. Gary was the man behind the revolutionary Ticket Window booking engine in the late 1990's. It was therefore no surprise that Gary was asked to speak at the recent 'Business Travel World' seminar entitled 'Solutions for Online Booking in Business Travel.' Here is what he had to say: To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the travel agent are much exaggerated. Back in the late 1990's the received wisdom was that the big word across the page would describe the fate of the travel agency community, and the few of us who survived into the new millennium (assuming of course that the bug didn't wipe us out) would be very niche businesses, offering high end cruises and private aircraft charters to millionaire football and media stars. The others would be sighing, shaking heads and remembering the good old days before the web.

I subscribed at one time to a version of this view, with the expectation that the vast majority of air travel would be booked online, with perhaps complex long haul itineraries being the exception. Being an agent with an early online booking tool (launched back in 1995) this view was hardly surprising. Things moved on and the complexity in the air travel market in particular grew, yet in some areas travel simplified. More fares became available, parity between airlines on routes disappeared and yield improvement programmes decreed that even more 'buckets' of seats should be sold. On the other hand, etickets started to arrive, and the merry-go-round of bits of paper changing hands began to disappear. Online booking figures crept up, slowly. A few agents were swallowed up by competitors. However most of us soldiered on and I started to wonder if things were going to move as fast as predicted.

Move on to September 2006 and Business Travel World magazine holds it's 'Solutions for Online Booking in Business Travel' conference. Of the around 50 or 60 delegates from corporate business travel purchasers, around a dozen hold up their hands to indicate they are booking online, another dozen confirm that they are here to check out the opportunities of doing so. The Institute of Travel Management Executive Director, Paul Tilstone, reviews the results of their member survey conducted earlier this year which indicates that around 13% penetration is all that has been achieved. View the results and learn more about the ITM at itm.org.uk. More...

Gary Hance
Director of Yield and Technology

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Jeremy King
Head of Marketing
ATP The Advanced Travel Partner
10 Leake St
London
SE1 7NN
Tel: +44 (0) 870 990 6900
Fax: +44 (0) 207 803 3055
Mob: +44 (0) 776 525 4550
E-mail: jeremy.king@atpi.com

Beverley Allen
Tel: 01525 716745
Mob: 07952 234292
Mob: +44 (0) 776 525 4550
E-mail: beverley.allenpr@aol.com

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