Global travel giants Amadeus, Booking Holdings, eDreams, Odigeo, Expedia Group, Skyscanner and Travelport are collaborating to form Global Travel Tech – an alliance that seeks to address challenges facing indirect travel distribution channels.
The collaboration was launched at the ITB Berlin event with the goal of becoming a major partner in industry and regulatory discussions at a global level.
The alliance hopes to champion the positive role of indirect distribution channels. These channels are particularly crucial in fostering a more competitive travel ecosystem. By creating a level playing field, indirect distribution channels empower smaller accommodation, transport, and travel service providers, giving them a fair chance to compete in the market.
Global Travel Tech also mentions the goal of ending Google’s abuse of its dominance in search as a goal.
“Google unfairly prioritises its own travel tools. Many travellers start planning their trips on a search engine, expecting to be shown a wide variety of travel providers and booking services. On Google, however, they are most likely to find flights, hotels, short-term rentals and attractions from the company’s own vertical search tools. These self-preferential search practices stifle competition, reduce traveller choice and drive-up costs,” said the group on its website.
The partnership has been formed at a time when regulatory bodies are challenging the role of indirect travel distribution websites.
Europe has advanced the Digital Markets Act to ensure fair competition and to challenge the rise of gatekeepers in the digital space, including Google and Booking.com, with the latter recently fined by the Spanish Competition Authority for anti-competitive behaviour.
