As consumers seek to increase the personalization of their trips, tourism industry suppliers have responded to this demand and constantly seek to differentiate their offer. In the search for new elements that allow offering personalized experiences to travelers, auxiliary or complementary services to the value of the air ticket arise as an opportunity to increase the profitability of the average ticket, which leads to the preparation of travel agencies to resolve New questions from travelers: Does it include seats with special location? Do they serve food? Is it possible to dispatch luggage ?, among others.
According to data from Amadeus, a leading company in solutions for the travel and tourism industry, in 2019 the regional sale of complementary services increased by 88% compared to 2018, and the total of auxiliary services sold by travel agencies in the region , 70% corresponds to seats, followed by luggage, which reaches 23% of sales.
However, in South America there is still an opportunity for growth, since the percentage of adoption of auxiliary services sold by travel agencies in 2019 only reached approximately 5% [2], and if we consider that 49% of passengers are interested in adding auxiliary services, an important growth window opens in this area for companies in the sector.
In order to take advantage of these opportunities, it is critical that agencies react in a timely manner to this demand, since as the flight date approaches, the chances that the client acquires these services directly increase. In Colombia, of the total tickets sold by travel agencies during 2019, 25% included the purchase of at least one auxiliary service with the same agency, while the rest did so through the airline. This implies that only one in four tourism companies is taking advantage of the potential of this business, opening a window of opportunity that must be capitalized by the agencies, since, depending on the service purchased, prices can be up to 20% more expensive compared to those acquired at the last minute with the airline.
To meet this demand, Amadeus has a large content of auxiliary services. In Latin America, more than 70% of the reservations that are processed in its system have ancillaries services available for sale both in the traditional GDS channel, and via Webservices, which allows agencies with both offline and online sales channels to offer This content to your end customers and maximize opportunities to maximize revenue by this way.
“In Colombia, the airline sector grew 10% in 2019 and mobilized more than 41 million passengers, for this market with such a large growth are online travel agencies, who achieve the highest adoption rates. This is due in large part to the inclusion of the sale of auxiliary services, in online sales flows, and in post-sale services. Therefore, beyond the type of travel agency, it is key to be able to automate the sales processes, in order to ensure that all agents will offer passengers, all the options that are available for sale, thus avoiding forgetting and processes manuals, ”says Juan Francisco Muñoz, Amadeus Country Manager for Colombia.
Amadeus offers an extensive menu of auxiliary services and merchandising with various airlines, in addition to productivity tools that facilitate the search, offer and sale of such auxiliary services, either through the cryptic FXK command or the new Amadeus Cross Sell Notifier Push available free of charge in the graphic environment of Amadeus Selling Platform Connect. This tool automatically informs the travel agent when a reservation qualifies for an auxiliary service, presenting details of the service and prices, facilitating the agent’s task of informing the client about the option, which can be confirmed and added to the ticket with just one click .
Improving the customer experience and increasing revenue, without this leading to increased costs, are some of the benefits that the sale of auxiliary services can bring. Amadeus has the content and solutions to contribute to this process, with the aim of continuing to build the future of travel and at the same time, contribute to the growth of the industry.