New deal hits the road

TO HELP meet road trip demand, Amadeus and Expedia Group are teaming up to expand access to their content.

The partnership will see customers have more options to search and book their preferred car vendors on Expedia Group sites, with the company’s family of brands – Expedia, Egencia, Travelocity, Orbitz, CarRentals. com and CheapTickets - to benefit long-term from Amadeus’ global footprint, technology and depth of car content.

Expedia Groups said its ability to harness the power and scale of data to help travellers at every stage of their journey means car partners would benefit from endto-end booking experiences.

Amadeus has also added 13 new car rental providers onto its platform, which brings its total portfolio to 40 car rental and 33 transfer providers in more than 3,500 cities and 191 countries worldwide.

The travel technology company offers customers easy access to find and book cars, and a greater breadth of content, helping boost conversions and gain traction with this new content, as domestic travel gains momentum.

The collaboration between the duo and car rental companies will further promote availability and choices to travellers, “critical” in helping the industry rebuild.

Working together to expedite the implementation has come at an ideal time, as countries start to reopen and travellers hit the road, with Expedia Group car bookings in Amadeus climbing 96% year-to-date compared to 2020, according to survey results.

A new study from Market Research Future estimates that the global market size of the car rental industry will grow 7.9% by 2023, with North America the major contributor to this growth.