74% of UK agents yet to harness the power of mobile technology
Friday 19, March 2010
Delayed and cancelled flights cause untold stress to thousands of passengers every year. However, research by Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, found that 74% percent of travel agents say that they do not provide a mobile service for their customers to check the status of their flights, despite saying that 89% of their customers find missed flights stressful.
The research comes as Amadeus launches CheckMyTrip for mobile - a tool for travellers to check up-to-date flight information, destination weather, city guides and connection information. With summer holidays looming, the service will be available to Amadeus’ airline and travel agent customers.
The research was carried out directly with 149 of travel agents, both business and leisure, in the UK market. It highlighted the importance of the mobile phone as a communications channel with customers, as 42% of travel agents say that the mobile phone is the most important technological device for their customers when they travel.
Ian Wheeler, Vice President, Marketing and Distribution said: “It’s critical for travel agents and airlines to communicate with their customers in an appropriate, effective, and valuable way. The mobile phone has quickly become the most important device to individuals and is now an indispensable channel.”
Wheeler continues: “As the mobile internet and PC internet converge, there are many opportunities for products and services which combine the best of consumer applications such as Facebook, business applications such as automatic billing and expense management, and mobile specific services such as SMS or location based services. The CheckMyTrip portfolio is steadily expanding with these developments in mind and we will continue to invest in research and development to enhance our mobile services.”
As part of the continued efforts to enhance the functionality of CheckMyTrip, Amadeus also announces the beta launch of a CheckMyTrip application for Facebook allowing anyone with a Facebook account to share travel plans booked on the Amadeus system with contacts, as well as a CheckMyTrip application for the Blackberry platform. Amadeus also announces a pilot of a CheckMyTrip application for the iPhone.
Background market statistics:
- Facebook currently has more than 400 million active users
- There were 1.2 billion phone sales globally in 2009, of which 170 million were smartphones, with a predicted growth of 9% in sales in 2010
(Source: TravelDailyNews.com)
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