Tech to reignite the business

ALTHOUGH the Namibian
market has experienced a
decline, Travelport remains
confident in this market.
This was the message
Claudette Thorne, acting
country manager for Travelport,
shared while welcoming the
trade to Travelport’s recent
Spotlight Workshop. She also
expressed her gratitude to the
Namibian travel industry for
their support through what she
referred to as a tough period.
“We’ve seen the market in
decline, but it’s a big year for
us at Travelport, and we believe
that if you are operating as
successfully as you are in a
market as depressed as it is
now, you can just imagine what
it’s going to be like when it
starts soaring the other way,”
said Claudette.
She said that while the
decline was a bit depressing, it
also demonstrated a need to
change the way Travelport did
business in this market.
A big part of this, she said,
would be investing in people
and technology development.
“Travelport has spent just over
£700m (R11,6bn) in the last
five years on development, and
we’ve been very specific about
the kind of development we’re
investing in,” said Claudette.
“Consumers are becoming
ultra-connected – it’s all about
that mobile device in their
hand. A big development for
us was the acquisition of
Travelport Digital in 2015,
which is one of the largest
and most successful app
developers in the industry.
We plan to continue in that
vein to meet the demands of
our customers.”
She also said another big
focus area for Travelport would
be data analytics.
“We need to empower you
so that you can empower
your customers, and also so
that you know when you have
the opportunity to upsell, and
so forth.”
In conclusion, she pointed
out that the company would
continue to place major focus
on Africa.