Amadeus is planning to introduce a raft of developments for leisure agents with the latest version of the Amadeus Selling Platform scheduled for release in November.
The front-office selling tool will offer local tours and attractions content such airport transfers, theatre tickets and helicopter rides.
Amadeus Activities & Entertainment offers commissionable content at 400 destinations worldwide.
The tour and attractions content is also being integrated into Amadeus’ checkmytrip itinerary management technology to enable travellers to book their own sightseeing trips and extras.
Agents will still earn commission if travellers decide to book it themselves.
The GDS is also introducing its Amadeus Holiday Hotels technology enabling agents to book more leisure and resort hotels through deals with existing industry bed-banks.
On Holiday Group, somewhere2stay.com and hotels4u are launch partners for the technology.
Amadeus described the system as the first business-to-business metasearch engine and said it would be available to the agency community early next year.
The GDS is also developing its cruise platform to enable agents to provide a cruise research function with cabin guides and deck maps on their websites for customers.
Customers would then contact their agent to book but there are further plans to make cruises available to be booked through agents’ websites and the solution is likely to be introduced early 2008.
By Linda Fox
