Amadeus is encouraging agents to exploit travel trends during the Olympic Games by releasing data showing booking volumes for London.
Amadeus gives agents data to exploit Olympic trends
Amadeus is encouraging firms to exploit travel trends during the Olympic Games by releasing data showing booking volumes for London.
The global distribution system said the data would enable agents, suppliers and operators to tailor their product or technology to visitors from specific countries or to target UK holidaymakers not travelling abroad.
It is the first time Amadeus has used this market information to highlight trends, something it plans to do a lot more of in the future.
UK managing director Diane Bouzebiba said the information could be used by travel firms to grasp opportunities, such as selling inbound holidays or domestic trips.
Its data centre in Erding, Germany, processes one billion transactions every day and, because it powers many airline systems, it is not just limited to the Amadeus GDS.
Bouzebiba said: “This is about Amadeus positioning ourselves as a provider of this type of information to our industry. I would like to see us a being a thought catalyst.
“There are clear advantages to be gained from sharing this data from a retail sales perspective and an operational perspective.”
The Amadeus data reveals Brits are not looking to escape the UK during the Games, possibly a reflection of the economy and rise in popularity of domestic holidays.
Analysis of scheduled departures from London airports for the four days before the opening ceremony on July 27 shows they were 11% down as at February 22.
In the two weeks after the end of the Games the number of departures from London airports is up 6%, suggesting people are looking to stay in the UK for the duration of the event.
Inbound bookings for July 26 are up 143% and the four days before the start of the Games are 31% up, with visitors from the US, Germany, China, Brazil and Jamaica leading the way.
This is maybe not surprising as all are countries that would expect to do well in the medal winning stakes.
However, Estonia is showing one of the biggest proportionate increases with a 14-fold uptick in arrivals during the Games.
One of the more interesting findings from the data is the extent to which cities in nearby continental Europe are showing a significant increase in arrivals.
Bouzebiba believes this reflects the increased likelihood of travellers to combine air and rail to travel and underlines the value of high speed rail in complementing air services rather than act as a rival.
“I believe this is a trend for the future and one where Amadeus technology is able to make two modes of transport seamless,” she said.
Amadeus plans to issue further updates on the travel trends for the Olympics as the event nears.
Holger Taubmann, senior vice president, said: “Increasingly, companies are relying on hard data to make business decisions.
“This data provides valuable insights to ensure all players in the travel industry are ready and able to maximise the opportunities come Games-time.
“For instance it could help airlines make decisions on the benefits of increasing the capacity and frequency on a given route to meet travellers’ demands, or consider targeting customers with air-rail combined trip offers.”
The Olympics travel forecast was produced in conjunction with ForwardKeys.com, a business intelligence toll launched by Forward Data in partnership with Amadeus.
