DISTRIBUTION / GDSs
CENTRAL RESERVATIONS
W hen the word GDS is mentioned in travel trade circles, the first word association is of those long-established holders and distributors of content (see p26-29). In the words of Angel Gallego, executive vice president distribution for Amadeus, “GDSs were created to give scale to the industry – we needed to build consumption at a global level. We put in one place all the content you [agents] need to sell.” But, as Gallego and others are keen to point out, these organisations have changed hugely since their creation by airlines to distribute their owners’ content. They began by adding other travel category content such as hotels, car and rail. However, when they stopped being part of their parent carriers and became independent corporations, they also became not only travel content aggregators and distributors but also airline IT companies, providing a service to their erstwhile owners. If you ask a GDS directly what they are, however, the answer is different again. With Travelport – whether via its website or talking to its chief commercial officer, Jason Clarke – you can’t escape the word “retailing”. Amadeus uses the word e-commerce. The GDSs are on a journey, if not to revise their business model, at least to rebrand it. The distribution landscape’s backbone for decades, legacy global distribution systems are now grappling with keeping content together, writes Betty Low
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businesstravelnewseurope.com | SPRING 2023
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