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Lovell: We’ve all got problems
GBTA Conference special: Guild of Business Travel Agents chairman Richard Lovell concluded the annual conference in Shanghai by claiming all sectors of the market were facing big issues.
“We’ve heard a lot during the conference about the pressures facing travel management companies and the drive to reduce costs, but we are not alone,” he said.
“The low-cost airlines seem to have gone off the boil. We’ve seen the recent profits warning for easyJet and then Ryanair said it expected a big fares war this year.
“The airlines are having to reduce their costs and the GDSs have problems reaching agreement with all parties.
“Every significant airline wants to cut costs to GDSs and if there’s one thing that cheers me up it’s the thought that running a GDS must be even more difficult than running a travel management company.
“Everyone talks about the rate of change, but we know about that. We’re not quivering, we’re not frightened, we’re already making lots of changes.”
Report by Jeremy Skidmore from the GBTA Conference, Shanghai
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