DISTRIBUTION / TMCs
IN THE THICK OF IT As travel content becomes increasingly fragmented, travel management companies are facing a battle to knit all parties together. Betty Low reports
T ravel management companies seem always to have been the piggy in the middle – between buyers and suppliers, suppliers and distribu- tors, distributors and buyers. They’re the bridge between suppliers (the travel providers) and consumers (the com- panies and their travellers). But their historical ability to distribute that content smoothly to its market has been disrupted for a number of reasons. Areka Consulting’s CEO Pascal Jungfer cautions that despite the upheaval which the surge in NDC air content has precipitated, other business issues remain constant. “There’s always been a game of hide and seek between content providers. After 30 years problems still have not been solved – [in fact they’ve become] more complex. There’s always a generation of new content because of deregulation, new players, smarter marketing and packaging. It’s like herding cats. But it shows the value chain is moving and that is a good thing.” One key element of travel management companies’ value lies in their access to air content which until recently came through one source – global distribution systems. It now arrives from multiple sources. The issues may have begun with corporates’ use of low- cost carriers who only distributed via phone, originally, and then via websites. Data at best would be in a different format; at worst it would just be lost. But issues multiplied when Lufthansa announced that it was withholding some
of its content and making it available only via IATA’s NDC channel. The upheaval it unleashed in the world of TMCs was interrupted only by the pandemic. First of all, travel patterns have changed. Angel Gallego, executive vice president of distribution at Amadeus, says: “The hybrid workplace changed many of the fundamentals. We bring people into the office just to meet each other – we have needs for corporate travel that we didn’t have before.” April Bridgeman, senior vice president, BCD Travel, also believes the overall profile has changed. “There’s now a drop in day trips and in internal travel but customer travel is back to where it was.” “Covid was a shock,” adds Jason Clarke, chief commercial officer at Travelport, but believes a corner has been turned as companies have been allowed to take stock of where they are in their life cycle and make choices. He shares Bridgeman’s positive reports on demand. “The good news is that we’re seeing companies come through that. We’re materially ahead on shopping transactions which we see as pent-up demand.” Stefan Cars, chief executive and founder of Snowfall, which has launched an aggregator product called Junction, notices something different. “The last few years has seen an accelerated shift towards remote working and ‘working from anywhere’ which has resulted in ‘blended travel’ [also known as ‘bleisure’ travel] becoming a permanent feature in the modern business traveller’s lexicon,” he says.
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businesstravelnewseurope.com | SPRING 2023
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