Amadeus, a travel technology provider, has launched a tool that claims it will change the way people search for travel. The Amadeus Affinity Shopper allows potential travellers to search an airline's website by desired travel experience verses putting in a specific destination or price bracket.
Amadeus currently offers a tool called Extreme Search which allows travelers to search for packages based on open questions such as "where can I go and what can I do for what I want to spend?" With Affinity Shopper, this is the first time that technology will be available on airline websites. The difference between Extreme Search and other search engines is that it allows the traveller to make a selection without having to choose a destination city or date.
The first airline to test the tool will be Lufthansa, with other airlines trying it out next year. They are also hoping to get a travel agent version of the tool into travel agencies next year. Ian Wheeler, the Vice President of Marketing and Distribution for Amadeus said, "We think it’s quite a revolution in the way people will search for travel compared to the way they do today. We are launching with Lufthansa but the aim is to multi-brand airlines and add future content," when the tool was unveiled on Tuesday.
"Affinity Shopper gives our customers further options to use our website as a traveller playground where users can explore and determine their trip based on what they would like to do during their travel. Our customers are able to conduct a search for a 'beach holiday in Europe based on a budget range,' or even a completely open search for a holiday for less than, for example, $700 per person," said Marcus Casey, the Head of e-Commerce and Mobile at Lufthansa
Amadeus also released a report called "The Amateur-Expert Traveller." The report suggests because of internet, travellers are more knowledgeable, more adventurous and more open to new technology than ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment