It’s a good thing for global travel retail companies that there are so many more of them than there were five years ago. There were only 150 companies worldwide in the travel industry. Today, there more than 1,000 of them.
On May 20th, Travelport, one of the world’s leading travel technology companies, announced global launch of its Travelport Accelerator Program. The Accelerator Program is an accelerator program, similar to those used by technology startups to help them focus on their core business, make the transition to the market, and grow. To support the program, Travelport has formed a global network of Accelerator partners across all lines of travel distribution, with over 100 sites in over 20 countries. The Accelerator program is divided into three phases; Phase One includes nine startups that can use the program to accelerate their growth and access to new customers. Phase Two includes the 22 startups participating in the Accelerator Program worldwide who will form a global network. Phase Three
Travelport aims to address some of the industry’s most pressing issues. The new worldwide accelerator program, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), will begin with digital marketing solutions that use AI and machine learning to customize targeted offers to consumers.
“No one person or company has the answer to all of travel retailing’s problems,” said Tom Kershaw, Travelport’s chief product and technology officer. “Unifying brilliant minds from many backgrounds and geographic regions and focusing their attention on addressing a particular issue is the most effective method to generate innovation, especially at a rapid pace. Travelport Accelerator will do just that. We are excited to collaborate with businesses big and small across the globe to advance the modernization of travel retailing for the benefit of the whole travel ecosystem.”
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Selected companies will be offered the opportunity to earn up to $100,000 in AWS Activate credit for this inaugural competition, and applications are now open.
Travelport will provide you with a variety of challenges. The Travelport Accelerator will see digital entrepreneurs and innovators seeking to break into the travel industry tackle a variety of issues such as data security, hyper-personalization, and client acquisition. Companies with appropriate goods and technology are encouraged to submit after a challenge has been established.
For each challenge, a cohort of up to ten businesses will be chosen to go forward. American Express Global Business Travel, Priceline, Internova Travel Group, Direct Travel, and Christopherson Business Travel are among the companies evaluated by panels made up of senior industry professionals. A group of three businesses will advance to the final round and collaborate with Travelport and AWS to complete the challenge.
“With millions of active customers across the globe, AWS allows businesses of all sizes to innovate. Travelport Accelerator contributes to this endeavor by allowing travel innovators to present their ideas to some of the world’s most powerful executives in the travel industry, allowing them to shape the future of travel commerce. We’re excited to engage with Travelport on this, as we improve Travelport+ and move toward a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing.”
The first challenge, which will bring cutting-edge digital marketing technologies to travel businesses, has a deadline of midnight Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on September 22, 2024.
“The sheer number of channels that convey messages to consumers today is astounding, as is the quantity of information each puts out,” Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer, Travelport, stated. As a result, our brains are compelled to prioritize the information they receive. If you aren’t captivating enough, you will be sent to the back of the line – literally forgotten. To be heard, highly targeted and hyper-personalized digital marketing is becoming standard practice. Because selling travel is complicated, access to travel data is restricted, pricing is real-time, demand patterns change quickly, and offers include several goods, this has historically been a problem for travel firms. As a result, 84 percent of marketing professionals in the travel sector now view AI and machine learning for customization of digital marketing as a high or very high priority, according to a recent research by Sojern. Challenges, on the other hand, are there to be conquered, and we think that by putting together the right people and the appropriate technology, we can overcome this one. We’re really excited to get started!”
