travel tech insights

5 Stats That Paint A Bright Future for Travel Agents

132,00. That’s how many travel agents were in operation in the United States in 1990, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). By 2014, that number had dwindled by half to about 71,000 and the projections for the next ten years indicate a continued decline by about 12 percent. On the surface, these statistics would seem to spell doom for traditional travel agents who are facing increasingly intense competition from online travel agencies, development of new technologies like mobile apps, and other user-driven sites like AirBnB.

Yet, these stats don’t fully represent the value and potential for growth travel agents pose within today’s global travel industry. With today’s modern traveler placing a greater emphasis on unique travel experiences, individually curated tours and activities, and a person-to-person connection in researching and completing travel bookings, traditional travel agents are actually uniquely positioned to expand their footprint and reach more customers than ever before.

Topics: online travel agency travel agents travel agencies

Why Travel Companies Need An ERP Solution in 2017

Today’s travel companies often find themselves in the same scenario as companies within a host of other industries: The prospect of having to do more with less.

Because the 21st Century travel industry demands travel companies operate with greater agility, flexibility, and visibility, travel companies are constantly tasked with increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing the overall customer experience in order to remain viable and competitive. With such a crowded field in today’s travel landscape, travel companies  can find themselves struggling to navigate the wealth of options, methods, and modes when it comes to increasing the efficacy of their products and services.

This is where a travel ERP solution is an important value proposition for travel companies as they strive to multi-task and work faster and more efficiently. The capacity of a travel ERP solution to automate workflows and back-office tasks, and fast, accurate invoicing and documentation reduce headaches for travel companies by streamlining once manual, time-consuming activities. This provides travel companies with greater visibility and responsiveness across each touch point of the value chain.

Topics: travel erp travel erp system erp system 2017

TBS Upsell & Cross-sell functionality in TBS - Travel Booking System

  • The new option available is visible in the book page - after a reservation is created - and allows the user to the possibility to book  complementary services
  • It works very simple: let's assume a hotel reservation; once a booking is made, the system displays to the user the suggestion that you can see in the image below. The services suggested depend on the services that are active in that TBS. If one of the services is selected, a new search page opens - in that page, TBS will auto-complete the search data used for the original service.
Topics: TBS travel booking system upsell functionality new features

Product Updates - March 2017

TBS travel booking system updates

Resellers - flight searches and reservations counter

A new section was developed in the 'Resellers' module - 'Search counter'.

The section displays the total number of flight searches and reservations made by the reseller and offers the admin filter options based on the flight provider (all or specific) and time period (daily and monthly).

Flights - display message in book page when status is different than HK

New quality control feature that optimizes the search and book time of the travel agents:

For the flight reservations which have at least one segment with status different than HK, a message is displayed in the booking page: 'Please check the segments status. Ticket issuance might not be possible or might lead to accepting schedule change.'

Topics: TINA TBS AIDA travel booking system Product updates tour operator solution

5 Stats About the Current State of Corporate Travel

If there’s one segment of the global travel industry that has continued to show potential for growth and development during the last five years, it’s corporate travel. As more countries emerge as hubs of international business and the global business community continues to align, the sheer number of corporate travelers and their impact on the travel industry has been a truly disruptive force pushing travel companies to modernize their practices and tailor products and services to this new breed of traveler.

In today’s travel industry, numbers don’t lie. Facts and data points are taken as gospel when evaluating the strength of the travel industry and what industry trends may have the biggest impact on what the travel landscape looks like six, nine, or 12 months in the future. For example, a recent survey from the Global Business Travel Association projected the total revenue generated from international business travel would reach  nearly $1 trillion dollars.

Topics: Business Travel Business Traveler Corporate Travel 2017

The Importance of Conversion Rates for OTAs

Let’s examine a very common scenario in today’s travel industry: Your customer is browsing a travel package or destination on your site, has done their research, is fairly confident your site is offering the best value, but is still unsure about completing the booking. Their virtual shopping cart is loaded, yet there’s still something holding them back from completing their purchase. How does a travel company entice or encourage this customer to click ‘buy’ and complete their booking? How does a travel company make the buying process simple, fast, and efficient?

What we’re talking about here is conversion. The scenario we described above plays out thousands of times a day in the travel industry for online travel agencies and companies in their quest to enhance online conversion rates, increase revenue, and build brand loyalty. But what’s an OTA to do to drive conversion in a competitive online landscape? How do they reconcile this situation? How do they turn probing clicks into purchases? How do they stimulate their conversion rates and leverage these successes into a jumping off point for sustainable growth and competitiveness?

Topics: travel website conversion OTAs conversion rates online travel agencies

The Importance of Reporting for Travel Agents

As with so many industries in today’s interconnected, global economy, data and analytics are core drivers in leveraging growth, productivity, efficiency, and profitability. A company’s ability to gather, interpret, analyze, and act on data sets is more than a value-added proposition in a complex marketplace network of suppliers, retailers, and customers; rather, using reporting as a way to create actionable business plans is a necessity for long-term, sustainable success. This is perhaps no more true than with travel agents who are consistently required to work with more visibility, transparency, and agility in order to reach as wide as consumer base as possible.

Through advanced metric and reporting platforms like Big Data, advanced analytics, and automation software, travel agents can now more than ever before gain a fundamental understanding as to how every interaction in the buying process impacts each touch point in the value chain. Reporting and data analysis also offer a window into the needs, desires, and requirements of travelers, which travel agents can then use to best position products and services in a competitive field of travel companies.

Topics: travel agents travel companies data analysis reporting

How A Travel ERP System Drives Travel Company Growth

Speed. Accuracy. Scalability. These are the things on the minds of nearly every travel company in today’s global travel marketplace. Because the travel landscape is populated with so many major players, the prospect of administering back-office tasks and other repetitive, non-complex functions is a critical pain point for travel companies in creating sustainable growth, productivity, and profitability.

This is where a travel ERP solution is an important value proposition for travel companies in streamlining tasks and processes. The capacity of a travel ERP solution to automate workflows and back-office tasks, and fast, accurate invoicing and documentation reduce headaches by streamlining once manual, time-consuming activities and providing travel companies with greater visibility across each touch point of the value chain.

Topics: erp travel erp system erp system travel companies

How Tour Operators Benefit From Mobile Technology

Today’s travel industry is becoming increasingly mobile. Not only are more and more travel companies embracing the idea of mobile apps or platforms, but travelers are now more than ever before researching, booking, and reviewing travel and tourism options on-the-go. This movement has essentially pushed the entire travel booking experience into a real-time mode where travel companies and customers are communicating and engaging in the moment rather than during the span of several hours or days.

For tour operators, whose ability to leverage growth and productivity depends largely on real-time visibility and access to products and services, embracing mobile technology is a key avenue to create lasting, profitable relationships with customers. Because so many tours and activities in today’s travel landscape are booked on-the-fly — for example, a customer might learn of a winery tour during a breakfast and want to book a spot on the tour for later that afternoon — tour operators who incorporate mobile technology will be able to capitalize on this new brand of customer who seeks quick accommodation and rapid responsiveness from travel companies.

Topics: Mobile Technology Mobile App Tour Operators Mobile Travel

How Technology is Reshaping Corporate Travel

One of the most disrupted segments in today’s travel industry is corporate or business travel. Because business moments and opportunities are no longer restricted to what happens in the office or boardroom on a 9 to 5 basis, corporate travelers are having to travel and engage in business activities in more unconventional, unprecedented ways. For example, a business executive could begin a business transaction on a conference call in the morning and then fly to a partner’s headquarters to finalize the deal the very next day. This rapid acceleration of business practices means corporate travelers need more agile, responsive, and visible products and services from the travel companies with which they choose to work.

This is where new technologies has become a core driver in efficiency for both corporate travelers and the travel companies that service this burgeoning demographic.

Topics: travel technology Business Travel Business Traveler Corporate Travel