SINGAPORE-based Asiatravel.com Holdings will unveil its new TACentre.com tomorrow, billing it as Asia’s first online travel wholesale platform which can provide traditional brick-and-mortar agencies with full packages 24/7 and for which they can get instant confirmation.
Far from being dead, traditional agencies in Asia were “doing well”, said Asiatravel.com’s executive chairman, Boh Tuang Poh. One reason was the continued growth in Asian outbound leisure markets, he explained.
The issues facing agencies, however, are rising costs and manpower shortages.
With TAcentre.com, agencies can improve their operational productivity, customer service efficiency and increase profitability, as the job of creating packages and finding the best rates have already been done for them, said Fred Seow, vice president marketing.
“Many online platforms claim to be online. The content is viewable online; the consultants still have to wait for confirmation. With TAcentre.com, they are able to get instant confirmation,” said Boh, when asked about the platform’s key differentiator.
– Full report in TTG Asia, October 19, 2012
