Non-air products: Moving beyond ticketing

GDS companies, since their existence, have offered products that have benefited travel agents’ business. In the past few years, the distribution companies have looked at enhancing their product offerings by adding non-air products on their systems. The very fact that almost all the GDS companies working in the Indian market are now cashing in on developing the non-air product segment speaks of the need for expanding the travel agents’ business model; especially post the zero commission environment. Non-air products offer the best channel for agents to look beyond ticketing. The four distinct GDS companies – Galileo, Amadeus, Abacus, Worldspan and Sabre are currently offering non-air products like international hotel inventory, car rentals, cruise liners, rail companies, ferry lines, dynamic packaging, visa information etc. However, there are other non-air products and solutions which can be tailor-made to fit the requirements of each agency and hence augment their business. The other products looked at by GDS companies include SMS updates, local Indian hotel content, global sim cards for international phone calls etc.