Travelport announced six long-term agreements with travel agencies in Asia Pacific. Three of the agreements are new wins: two in Greater China with EverExpress Travel Service and Kent Holidays Company Limited; and one in South Korea with Lotte Tour. The company has also renewed its partnerships with Richmond International Travel & Tours and Hong Kong Borabora Trading in Greater China, as well as IACE Travel in Japan.
As part of the multi-year agreements, Travelport will provide the agencies with real-time access to a broad range of high-quality content from around 400 airlines, more than 300 global hotel brands, and over 37,000 car rental locations worldwide. In addition, the companies will benefit from Travelport’s cutting-edge search, automation, shopping and booking technologies, while accessing valuable data, business logic and profiling functionality via a single platform.
Lotte Tour, a leading travel conglomerate in South Korea, will also be using Travelport’s Branded Fares Data File; while EverExpress Travel Service, a major player in Taichung, Taiwan, will be using Travelport’s Branded Fares and Ancillary Services. These merchandizing solutions will allow both agencies to differentiate content from the over 275 airlines globally signed up to Travelport Rich Content and Branding, displaying and selling branded fare families and ancillary products with rich visuals and text.
Richmond International Travel & Tours, one of the largest travel agencies in Taiwan, will also continue to participate in initiatives driven by Travelport involving the New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard. NDC is a travel industry-supported program launched by IATA that will enable the travel industry to transform the way air products are retailed to corporations, leisure and business travelers.
Chico Chen, President at Richmond International Travel & Tours said: “We have continually evolved our partnership with Travelport over the 11 years we’ve been working together, combining our respective capabilities to produce far more than the sum of their parts. We look forward to building even further on our partnership, as we continue to expand internationally and use NDC technology to enhance the way we retail travel.”
Gary Chen, General Manager at EverExpress Travel Service, said: “We knew we needed advanced and reliable solutions to support our shift towards an online travel agency model. We are confident that Travelport’s combination of innovative technology, support capabilities and proven track record, will serve us well as we evolve our capabilities to serve the needs of the modern traveler.”
Mark Meehan, Group Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Travelport, said: “We are proud to be both welcoming new alliances to the Travelport network, as well as extending long-standing partnerships. These agreements are testament to the mutual confidence our partners share with us, in the crucial role that innovative distribution technology will play in the recovery of travel.”
