Martin Herbert https://dev.traveldailymedia.com/tag/martin-herbert/ Informing, connecting and developing the world’s travel industry professionals. Fri, 26 Mar 2021 03:16:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 India most popular long-haul destination in Asia for UK travellers this summer https://dev.traveldailymedia.com/india-most-popular-long-haul-destination-in-asia-for-uk-travellers-this-summer/ Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:21:16 +0000 https://www.traveldailymedia.com/?p=513090 The post India most popular long-haul destination in Asia for UK travellers this summer appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

India has emerged as the top travel destination in Asia this summer for travellers from the UK, according to an analysis conducted by Travelport. Globally, the US was the top destination while India was the second most popular long-haul destination for UK travellers. As of 14 June, just under 87,000 advanced bookings had been made […]

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The post India most popular long-haul destination in Asia for UK travellers this summer appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

India has emerged as the top travel destination in Asia this summer for travellers from the UK, according to an analysis conducted by Travelport. Globally, the US was the top destination while India was the second most popular long-haul destination for UK travellers.

As of 14 June, just under 87,000 advanced bookings had been made in the UK through all global distribution systems (GDS) for return flights to India scheduled between Friday 28 June 2019 and 8 September 2019. Flight bookings in other Asian countries like Thailand and China stood at 49,137 and 29,870, respectively.

With flight bookings up by 3,402 (13%) year-on-year, China was the fastest-growing top ten long-haul destination for UK travellers compared to the same period the previous year.

Martin Herbert, regional managing director of India and Sri Lanka at Travelport said: “It’s exciting news for Indian tourism to see the country attracting more bookings than both China and Thailand combined. This trend is fuelling increased booking volume and we expect to see it continue in the years to come.”

 

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Indian business travellers yearns for digital travel solutions, says Travelport https://dev.traveldailymedia.com/indian-business-travellers-yearns-for-digital-travel-solutions-says-travelport/ Wed, 26 Jun 2019 21:33:39 +0000 https://www.traveldailymedia.com/?p=509137 The post Indian business travellers yearns for digital travel solutions, says Travelport appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Tech-savvy business travellers in India are increasingly demanding, as well as using, advanced digital solutions that can enhance their travel experience, according to an independent study commissioned by Travelport, a travel commerce platform. Commenting on the findings of the survey, Martin Herbert, regional managing director for India and Sri Lanka, Travelport, said, “The results clearly […]

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The post Indian business travellers yearns for digital travel solutions, says Travelport appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Tech-savvy business travellers in India are increasingly demanding, as well as using, advanced digital solutions that can enhance their travel experience, according to an independent study commissioned by Travelport, a travel commerce platform.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Martin Herbert, regional managing director for India and Sri Lanka, Travelport, said, “The results clearly show that business travellers in India now fully expect airlines, hotels, travel agents, and other companies in the travel ecosystem, to deliver effective and easily accessible support via digital channels throughout their journeys. The immediate areas digital solutions can support are those that are straight-forward or easily automated but companies also need to consider technologies like artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, which can execute more advanced tasks and lead to even greater increases in sales and reductions in operating costs.”

Sandeep Dwivedi, chief operating officer, InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), Travelport’s operator in six countries across the Asia Pacific region, including India, added, “Digital solutions offer travel agents and travel providers a way to really elevate the customer experience and, in doing so, set themselves apart from their peers. For digital solutions to be successful, they need to compliment physical channels at every stage. This requires careful planning and proven technology but, when executed well, the impact digital solutions can make can be game-changing.”

The research was carried out by Toluna Research and is based on responses from 8,100 regular business travellers across 25 countries. According to the study, titled the Digital Business Traveller Research 2019, in the planning and booking phase, nearly three quarters (72%) of business travellers in India have now used voice search, at some point, to investigate items like flight times, hotel options and the weather at their destinations. Two-thirds (66%) have also researched and booked a business trip entirely on their smartphone.

In addition, three quarters of business travellers in India now feel a good digital experience is ‘very important’ when choosing a hotel (75%) and airline (79%). In fact, 72 per cent actively avoid hotels that still charge for WIFI.

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“No reason” Airbnb and Uber can’t be sold via GDS https://dev.traveldailymedia.com/no-reason-airbnb-and-uber-cant-be-sold-via-gds/ Sat, 28 May 2016 05:07:38 +0000 http://www.traveldailymedia.com/?p=236922 The post “No reason” Airbnb and Uber can’t be sold via GDS appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Could Airbnb be distributed via the GDS?

Airbnb, Uber and other shared economy companies could be incorporated into the GDS in future, if there was demand for it, Travelport has revealed. Speaking at the Travelport Live 2016 event in Macau, senior Travelport’s executives told Travel Daily that “there is no reason” why Airbnb and Uber couldn’t be distributed via the travel agency […]

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The post “No reason” Airbnb and Uber can’t be sold via GDS appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Could Airbnb be distributed via the GDS?

Airbnb, Uber and other shared economy companies could be incorporated into the GDS in future, if there was demand for it, Travelport has revealed.

Speaking at the Travelport Live 2016 event in Macau, senior Travelport’s executives told Travel Daily that “there is no reason” why Airbnb and Uber couldn’t be distributed via the travel agency channel, although there are no immediate plans to make this happen.

Could Airbnb be distributed via the GDS?
Could Airbnb be distributed via the GDS?

“I don’t see why not; I’m not aware of anything on the roadmap, but there’s no reason why not,” Martin Herbert, Travelport’s general manager for Asia, told us.

“We pull together and aggregate content, so from that point of view we have more than 20 different suppliers in our Rooms & More product… all there within the same interface. There’s no technical reason why an Airbnb product couldn’t go into that.

“We have the technology to bring it in. It’s more about the demand from the agency channel themselves about whether they want to offer that,” he added.

Herbert noted however, that there are “duty-of-care issues” relating to the use of accommodation sharing sites, especially in the corporate travel sector.

“The challenge is around corporate travel policies. But it’s something we’d be completely open to. Watch this space; who knows what might happen. We would not rule it out,” said Kate Aldridge, Travelport’s vice president of global corporate communications.

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shutterstock_380493958 Could Airbnb be distributed via the GDS?
Industry’s rapid growth drives customers back to travel agents https://dev.traveldailymedia.com/industrys-rapid-growth-drives-customers-back-to-travel-agents/ Sat, 28 May 2016 04:44:33 +0000 http://www.traveldailymedia.com/?p=236919 The post Industry’s rapid growth drives customers back to travel agents appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Mark Meehan

The rapid expansion of the travel industry, especially in Asia Pacific, is helping to drive customers back to traditional travel agencies, senior Travelport executives have told Travel Daily. Speaking at the Travelport Live 2016 event in Macau, Mark Meehan, Travelport’s managing director for Asia Pacific, told us that the proliferation of new options now available […]

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The post Industry’s rapid growth drives customers back to travel agents appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Brand TD.

Mark Meehan

The rapid expansion of the travel industry, especially in Asia Pacific, is helping to drive customers back to traditional travel agencies, senior Travelport executives have told Travel Daily.

Speaking at the Travelport Live 2016 event in Macau, Mark Meehan, Travelport’s managing director for Asia Pacific, told us that the proliferation of new options now available to travellers – from low-cost and hybrid carriers to a plethora of new accommodation choices – has made the expert advice provided by agents more important than ever.

Mark Meehan
Mark Meehan

With such a vast amount of choice now on offer, he stated, agents can help travellers filter the options and work out the best available choice in an intelligent manner.

“For the agency community it’s about adding value in the travel chain through the expertise and the choice – the intelligent choice – that they’re giving to the consumer,” Meehan told Travel Daily.

And Travelport is aiming to facilitate this “intelligent choice” by improving agents’ search capabilities. The company has invested more than US$800 million in its agent-facing Travel Commerce Platform since 2012, including the launch of ‘Rich Content & Branding’ for air bookings and a significant expansion of its hotel content via the ‘Rooms & More’ platform.

Now adopted by more than 160 airlines, Rich Content & Branding provides agents with more information about different airfares and their inclusions in a graphic on-screen layout. Rooms and More meanwhile, now incorporates TripAdvisor reviews and maps.

And initiatives like these, according to Meehan, are enabling agents to provide more informed advice to their customers.

“With the growth that we’re seeing in the industry, and Asia in particular, we had the foresight to go out and develop this capability,” Meehan said. “The Travel Commerce Platform gives the agency community the ability to prove – as they are – that they are relevant, current and add value to the traveller.”

Travelport Rich Content & Branding, as displayed on an agency screen
Travelport Rich Content & Branding, as displayed on an agency screen

This view was backed up by Martin Herbert, Travelport’s general manager for Asia, who said the new graphical displays give travel agents “an opportunity to sell more and engage with their customers”.

“You don’t want to turn the screen and show the old green screen – that doesn’t add value to the customer. But now we have TripAdvisor reviews, maps to hotels and all of these elements that are in the same interface for the agent to show the customer,” Herbert said.

“With the phenomenal growth that we’re seeing in the industry, the challenge is the sheer diversity and complexity of choice. The travel agent is uniquely placed… to intelligently filter what the needs and requirements of the customer are. There are more opportunities out there, due to the amount of choice there is out there.

“Choice is a great thing, but you need to filter it. The future is very positive for the agency community,” Herbert added.

Meehan also noted that the new demographics of travellers, and their changing travel patterns, are providing new opportunities for agents.

“The demographic is changing; there are younger travellers with disposable income, and they are now tagging a leisure aspect to a business trip, [which] makes their itinerary a little more complex than before. But it also offers the agency community the opportunity to add value and expertise, and the end product of that is a satisfied traveller who’s going to go back to the agency,” Meehan revealed.

“We’re now seeing… younger travellers who will travel more, and also older travellers who travel more, because they have the disposable income and leisure time. So there is more demand out there, and that needs to be fulfilled.”

And this, Meehan added, means that GDS companies like Travelport need to continuously expand and improve their content, so that agents can continue to “demonstrate their expertise”.

“We have all this content, and keep adding to it all the time. But we have to make our tools smarter in terms of how we deliver that, and make it customisable,” Meehan stated. “We need to allow our technology to be optimised so that we can provide the search results that suit that agency and their customers,” he concluded.

And with all forecasts pointing to the continued expansion of the travel industry – from a 50% jump in international tourist arrivals by 2030 to doubling of the global air fleet over the next 20 years – it seems that, far from fading into extinction, as has been predicted in the past, traditional travel agencies are likely to become even more relevant in the years and decades to come.

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Mark Meehan Mark Meehan RC&B Travelport Rich Content & Branding, as displayed on an agency screen