Worldspan is planning a big increase in its business in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2003.
It’s also aiming to make significant inroads into the corporate sector after predominantly focussing on the leisure sector.
Graham Nichols (pictured) joined in November 2001 from rival Amadeus, where he was managing director for UK and Ireland, and has the bigger role of vice-president Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia for Worldspan.
Nichols claimed the global distribution system – which sees itself as an all-round technology provider – had a successful 2002, but said there was much to do to build on that position.
“I really want to raise the bar of Worldspan’s ambition in the territory I look after,” said Nichols.
“We’re putting greater resources into growing our market share and we do that by gearing our business to what the customer wants.
“We did that with e-commerce. Worldspan took a risk by building e-commerce business and struck deals with Expedia and Orbitz. E-commerce came back quickly and it was a shrewd move.”
Nichols said its plan for growth would involve consulting more widely with travel agents about their needs.
“There’s still plenty of agency business out there and I don’t think we’ve asked enough how we can help retailers.
“We can provide cost-effective technology when they’ve decided the route they want to take.
“The successful retailers have a multi-channel strategy of shops and Internet, like Thomas Cook.com.
“But it’s more difficult for a small agent. Just getting a web presence doesn’t solve the problem because nobody knows about them.
“I think they need to get involved with their consortium and also operate in a niche market. But that’s a business decision for them – we can help them achieve their goals, once they are established.”
Nichols admitted it had only a small portion of the business market, but aimed to take share from rivals by offering a unique product.
“According to our research, you need to be able to offer an integrated system which, for example, can handle management reporting, expense policies and corporate travel policies.
“Our investment i
