Tag Archives: Travelport

Jamie McDonald, a British “Adventureman” announced a new insane world record: took 6 days, 16 hours, and 14 minutes to visit the Seven Wonders of the World confirmed by World Guinness Records. He traveled to 4 continents and 9 countries. From the Great Wall of China to Chichén Itzá, he covered each Wonder. He flew on 13 flights and rode in 16 taxis, 9 buses, 4 trains, and 1 toboggan to cover 22,856 miles. The Adventureman accepted the challenge given by Travelport+, a company that wanted to test whether it could make the world’s most complex trip simple. Jamie McDonald mentioned, “With travel, there are just so many variables – weather, restrictions, delays, customs, traffic, cancellations, you name it. When you’re attempting to set a world record, speed and agility are key. Without Travelport, it could not have been possible”. Jamie McDonald, a British Adventurer better known as “Adventureman”, traveled to the Seven Modern Wonders of the World, using only public transport: The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Petra, the Colosseum, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Pichu and Chichén Itzá.  The trip was booked by the travel agency, Travelbag, a partner of Travelport, who has been utilizing Travelport since its inception        

Travelport has announced a $200 million investment from the company’s owners, Siris Capital Group and Elliott Management. “The $200 million investment from our owners, Siris Capital Group and Elliott Management, reflect their confidence in Travelport and the continued recovery of the travel industry,” said Greg Webb, CEO of Travelport. “

In a study commissioned by Travelport and conducted by Toluna Research with thousands of respondents from seven different countries, has revealed that on average, travellers visit a whopping 38 different websites before booking their trip. “While the last two+ years have been a significant challenge, the global travel industry recovered more than 50% of its gross activity by the end of 2021,” said Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer for Travelport.

Travelport has launched a new Trip Manager portal on Travelport+, offering self-service for travelers to carry out fast, easy transactions for their trip on the go and continues its Intelligent Storefrontmission by making it easier for agents to understand offers and compare brands with similar attributes on a like-for-like basis. Agencies using Travelport can also better manage the hotel bookings they sell with a simple self-service rules engine, the Content Optimizer.

In India, trust directly influences traveler purchasing behavior, claims a research by Travelport. Due to COVID-19, for example, half (50%, versus a global average of 46%) of travellers in the country said they prioritize trust over all other factors when choosing a travel supplier (such as an airline). Many travellers in India also stated, when trust is in place, they will consider purchasing multiple travel-related items (47%), upgrading their package (47%) and buying non-travel-related items such as credit cards (42%) – putting India amongst the countries with the strongest link between trust and purchasing propensity.  “The Indian travel industry has a golden opportunity to come out of COVID-19 strongly”, said Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer of InterGlobe Technology Quotient, Travelport’s official partner in India. “It’s clear that building consumer trust can lead to commercial success. By focusing on the most important issues for consumers in India, we can accelerate industry recovery.”

Travelport has announced a strategic long-term collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to use advanced cloud technology to accelerate the digital transformation of retailing in the travel industry. This deal, which brings together globally renowned expertise in travel technology, cloud technology, and hyper-personalised retailing, will focus on optimising Travelport’s recently launched next-generation platform, Travelport+. It will also drive innovation in travel merchandising with the launch of a new accelerator program that will incorporate talent from tech start-up community. “The travel industry has struggled to keep up with the pace of change in digital retail. This landmark collaboration is specifically designed to address just that. AWS’s retail heritage makes them uniquely qualified to optimize digital retail platforms, simplify complex environments, and enable game-changing innovation in the travel retailing space. With AWS as our preferred cloud partner, we are going to create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport.

Travelport has launched its next-generation platform, Travelport+, that creates a simplified, capability-rich marketplace for travel retailing. Travelport+ will bring together the most compelling range of air (ATPCO, LCC and NDC), car, hotel and rail content. It will achieve this by simplifying how Travelport connects and delivers travel-relevant content regardless of the source, the seller and how it’s consumed.

In its first-ever end-to-end rebrand, Travelport has launched a new visual identity already visible on its website and social media channels. Sandeep Dwivedi, COO, ITQ (distributor of Travelport), says, “Indeed, this is just the beginning of the bright future that awaits, in terms of futuristic technology, products & services that enhance travel trade and retailing at large.”

Most travellers in India are ready to book domestic and international trips, but only if airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey, reveals a new survey by Travelport. Demand for almost every safety measure is highest in India of the five countries surveyed.

In a bid to comply with demands from travellers and travel agents regarding information on an airline’s health and safety measures, Travelport has launched the Airline Health & Safety Tracker. This free-of-charge tool is available to both Travelport customers and the wider industry. It highlights the safety measures being undertaken by more than 80 of the world’s largest airlines – all available immediately. Data is delivered to both online and offline travel agencies through the recently launched Travelport COVID API-COVID-19 Resource Hub, which is also available to the general public. The new tool provides detailed information on a range of topics, including lockdown rules, entry requirements and quarantine measures for travellers. Country-level information can be displayed at the click of a button, allowing agents to advise their customers easily and instantly. Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient, says, “Gradual shifts towards safer journeys with refined safety measures is leading us to an evolving industry. To be able to track and match these safety measures with respective requirements shall lay genesis for a better travel booking experience, one that is frequently ensured by Travelport, lately with the Airline Health & Safety Tracker. This readily-accessible aid shall undoubtedly bring much respite from tedious manual searching and help travellers meet their respective requirements.