GDSs gear up for Asian rail travel

AS DEVELOPMENT of rail infrastructure in Asia speeds up and passenger numbers are set to triple, an “untapped opportunity” is presented for GDSs.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of the Travelport and Travel Agency Conference yesterday, Jason Clarke, managing director of global sales, Travelport, said: “We can see significantly more investment in rail infrastructure in Asia and potentially many business travellers will make rail their primary choice.

“High-speed rail in Asia, apart from Japan, is still in its infancy. But today we see China starting to do it, and most recently Singapore, Malaysia (TTG Asia, May 17, 2013) and Thailand (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 20, 2013) have come into the picture too,” he said.

According to Clarke, the number of high-speed rail passengers in Asia-Pacific is targeted to grow by almost three-fold – from 388 million in 2010 to 986 million in 2016.

“We foresee increasing demand from consumers and travel consultants for rail travel and we are looking into providing them the technology to meet their demands,” he said.

Although Travelport, together with other GDSs, began rolling out rail content early last year, most have been for Europe rather than Asia (TTG Asia, July 13, 2012).

Clarke explained that as rail infrastructure in Asia is still in its “early days”, they could not pinpoint a specific time as to when they would provide rail content for the region. “Essentially we see the infrastructure being created and we are now preparing the technology to provide to the consumers, so that once the trains are ready, we will be ready too,” he said.

Explaining the appeal of rail travel, he pointed out that high-speed rail spared travellers the waiting that comes with air travel and brings one directly into the city.

“From the environmental point of view, the train is also a cleaner travel method because it is less polluted,” he added.

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