Bringing the best innovation
Travelport has invested over US$450 million in R&D to provide solutions that meet the business needs of customers and reduce their overall cost of revenue.
We are gearing up to facilitate the hospitality sector by making the most from the upcoming opportunities
The travel and hospitality sector should no longer worry about the unprecedented difficult times, surging fuel prices and the rupee depreciation that had posed a risk to the growth of the industry. In fact, as per JB Singh, President & CEO – InterGlobe Technology Quotient, “The rate at which technology is seeping its way into the travel and hospitality sector and the level of innovations being introduced by companies, the prospects appear optimistic for both leisure and the business travel.”
Today, the tourism and hospitality industry in India contributes around 6.5 per cent to the national GDP and 9 per cent to the total employment in the country. Further, with improvement in the per capita income, and increased spending by customers, the Indian hospitality sector is expected to grow faster than most countries around the world.
“With the rise of social media, the hospitality sector is becoming increasingly dependent on information technology. With a resilient and successful business model in place since the last five years, Travelport has invested over US$450 million in research and development to provide solutions that meet the business needs of customers and reduce their overall cost of revenue. Travelport has continued to invest in solutions which are based on some ground break- ing technologies and provide huge benefits to the travel agents. Some of these products such as Travelport ViewTrip and Travelport Universal API, have already been rolled out in other markets and have generated great response,” said Singh.
“At InterGlobe Technology Quotient, we are gearing up to facilitate the hospitality sector by making the most from the upcoming opportunities. Presently, only 3-5 per cent of the hotel inventory is available online through various online aggregators which mean we have the opportunity to build the rest 95 per cent of such room inventory,” he added.
Technology and more specifically accessibility to the internet is now also the primary medium for how businesses choose destinations. Singh highlights the future trend with the help of Google’s findings as 69 per cent of businesses (compared to 63 per cent of consumers) planned their travel by internet searches in 2010. While the mobile travel bookings accounted for 15 per cent of all reservations in 2010, up 69 per cent from 2009, when only 9 per cent used mobile. In 2012, however, business travellers depended on smartphones, tablets and other internetconnected devices for their travel decisions.
A recent survey by PhoCusWright and Rearden Commerce show that 84 per cent of businesses used smartphones for business purposes while travelling. With this trend overtaking the mobile market, consumers now days look to mobile technology to guide them in decision making. “By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units. This explains the growing army of tech-savvy travellers whose smartphones are transforming travel habits. And with the emergence of new technologies and user-friendly smartphones, travel is all set to witness a revolution,” added Singh.