How can Your Travel Business evolve in 2021?

2021 has brought a renewed hope for the travel industry with over 50% of the countries opening up their domestic tourism sector. The pent-up demand for holidays and travel is now being realized.

According to a recent survey, Business Travel could resume to a sizeable level by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

However, it is imperative for travel businesses to also embrace the changes that are now becoming and acceptable norm.

In this episode, we want to visit the new developments in the travel sector and how can agencies incorporate them. And to take us through this, we have Priyanka Prabhu with us. Priyanka is a Customer Success Lead at Qtech Software. She partners with Travel businesses to understand their requirements and help them overcome business challenges through technology solutions.

2021 has started on a very positive note, we are in an era where things are evolving at a high speed and many of our clients are ready to embrace the change with more diversified services. We have encountered two major themes:

1. Preference towards Cash and Real time payments Vs the Credit System
   
2. B2B Travel companies, extending their service to B2C

There has been little to no realizations last year and the cash crunch can be felt. Now that the demand is rising and customer expectations are evolving, we are seeing this shift in B2B Travel from Credit to Cash. It is helping companies to keep a healthy service quality and extend added services like Safety Protocols and on-demand assistance.

In such a scenario, it would be difficult for businesses to retain the travel agents booking in their system. How can travel companies overcome this? 

We have helped some of our customers overcome this challenge by adding multiple layers of programs that make it lucrative for agents to book from their system.

For example: We have added the Loyalty Program and a Coupon Module to our B2B and B2C Booking engines for our customers. It helps them deliver added value to their travel agents and customers. The change has been well received by the agents.

In the first month of 2021 we have already helped two of our customers launch their online B2C services. Primarily these businesses have been B2B for over a decade. And we are seeing more such interests from other B2B customers.

When a B2B Travel Agency wants to launch B2C services, what are the most critical aspects to consider? 

There are 3 critical aspects:

• Addition of Flights module
  
• Integration of Insurance services &
  
• Demand for Channel Manager Integration

What are the focus areas for Travel companies to grow in B2C?

1) Technology and Online tickets are he (Only) Way Forward

2) Mobilization will continue to grow 

3) Intent data will drive decision making

4) A good social media handle is what one needs

To know more about how your travel business can leverage technology to overcome the challenges in 2021, connect with us at www.qtechsoftware.com / www.otrams.com