Amadeus to reach 65% market share in the region
While technologically enhancing the travel trade with modern tools and providing a global platform in the travel industry, Amadeus is aiming to reach 60 to 65 per cent market share in the Indian subcontinent, a top official from Amadeus India stated.
Mr. Ankur Bhatia
The company while celebrating 20 years of presence in Sri Lanka, has already captured more than 50 per cent of the market share in the region, Ankur Bhatia Director for Amadeus India Subcontinent told the Business Times on the sidelines of an event organised by the company to recognise its partners and agents at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo recently.
“In Sri Lanka the travel industry is growing at 10 to 12 per cent year-on-year. Within the next 20 years we will see organic growth of the company. Our aim is to reach 60 to 65 per cent market share in the region in the next five to seven years,” said Mr. Bhatia.
Amadeus continues to invest in Sri Lanka. There is around 22 local staff working for Amadeus Sri Lanka. “Today we have a market share of more than 50 per cent in the region in all travel reservation bookings. The system is free-of-charge to all travel agents in the country,” he added.
Mr. Bhatia mentioned that Amadeus provides an e-commerce business to business platform where all airlines, car rental companies and other service providers can get connected. The platform is provided for online and offline travel agencies. The booking and issuing of tickets can be done on the same platform.
Amadeus entered Sri Lanka even before Singapore and Malaysia, stressed Mr. Bhatia while elaborating that “as far as the Indian subcontinent is concerned we are presently in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan. Amadeus worldwide is present in a majority of the countries.”
The platform does not only facilitate booking, but also ticketing via International Air Transport Association. “Unless the airline is a low cost carrier for which we do not have on our platform, all reservations and bookings are done via Amadeus. All major worldwide airlines use the Amadeus platform,” noted Mr. Bhatia.
He also pointed out that, “What’s great about Amadeus Sri Lanka is that the technology that is provisioned for the travel agencies in Sri Lanka is by far the best. The technology is on the fingertips of the travellers.”