Amadeus to diversify through Comtec deal

Travel Technology Show Special: Amadeus plans to start distributing tour operator content in the UK following a partnership with Comtec that sees the GDS taking a 20% share in the technology provider. Amadeus is looking to replicate its tour operator distributing business in Germany with similar initiatives in the UK. Amadeus executive vice president commercial, David Jones said: “We believe there is great potential is replicating this model of distribution for pre-packaged tours and dynamically packaged tours to provide much more comprehensive front and back office solutions.” The German business came about when Amadeus bought Start Amadeus in February last year, now called Amadeus Germany. According to head of Amadeus’ tours business Bill Barnes, Amadeus Germany distributes 90% of tour operators’ product in Germany. But Amadeus could not easily bring the content to the UK without the help of Comtec. Mr Barnes told TravelMole why: “Amadeus has a relatively small user base in the UK, and Comtec is the industry leader here and deals with all the large vertically integrated travel groups. “Merging user systems gives us credible mass,” added Mr Barnes. He said that to bring the technology platform used by Amadeus Germany into the UK market without the help of Comtec would take up to ten years. But the deal isn’t just about access to market, it is also about shared technology. “It should make a big difference to high street agents who have to compete with online players in terms of flexibility and the product we are bringing together. But there will always be room for agents, I think around 60% of business will always go through agents.” Comtec chief executive, Simon Powell said the partnership will help his company to escalate its plans to take products outside the UK market. Mr Jones said Amadeus decided to work with Comtec because it is the market leader and has a broad range of products. He added: “This strategic partnership is underpinned by really modest equity investment, which means we are now a 20% shareholder in Comtec.” Mr Jones said the deal with Comtec was one of the ways the company was taking steps to diversify in the face of a challenging climate. “The industry being in a state of flux presents huge opportunities for us,” he said. The partnership will start with Amadeus offering integrated GDS and tour operator content. Mr Barnes told TravelMole: “At the moment agents take the GDS and tour operator content from two sources, but what we can do through the partnership with Comtec is integrate product and get it all down one pipe.” Mr Barnes said the two products would be integrated by the second quarter of 2004, and he added that this could result in cost savings for agents. Other products and services will follow, and will be made available to all agents, including those using other GDSs. Report by Ginny McGrath