World leaders at the 9th TMC conference “New Technologies in the Travel Industry”
Key representatives of the world's leading technology and distribution companies in the airline industry, with revenues measured in billions of euros — Kiwi.com (1 billion EUR), Travelport (3 billion EUR), Amadeus (4.5 billion EUR), AerTicket (2.5 billion EUR), KupiBilet (0.7 billion EUR) — appeared yesterday together with other speakers at the conference “New Technologies in the Travel Industry” at the Travel & Technology Hub “Gacka 16” in Zagreb.
7 February 2019 will be remembered as the date on which Zagreb became the central point of the airline industry on the map of Europe.
Accepting challenges, constantly questioning and testing existing business models and practices, adapting to changes and opportunities, connecting, being open and sharing — these are the essential factors for survival and success in the travel industry.
The conference organiser, the company Travel Management Company (TMC), brought together representatives of the most respected and influential European tourism companies, travel and technology companies, global hotel suppliers and other participants from Croatia and abroad. The lectures, B2B workshops and panel covered trends in the travel industry, the impact of new technologies and the opportunities they offer.
The emphasis was placed on solutions that combine experience, tradition and new technologies.
“At the TMC conference we brought together the most relevant experts in the travel industry, 9 speakers from 8 countries, looking at technological changes, the impact of global regulators, new VI ([virtual interlining](http://www.connectionreview.com/blog/virtual-interlining-in-aviation-what-it-means-exactly--30)) distribution models as well as new standards ([NDC](https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Pages/default.aspx)) in the travel industry, with an emphasis on the airline industry. The TMC conference series gives answers to the changes that are coming, through people and leading companies from the airline industry who, by presenting their business practices, pass on the experiences, challenges and obstacles that have positioned them as leaders in this segment of business“
Anđelko Ćalušić, CEO TMC Solutions
Zdenek Komenda, business development director at Kiwi.com, highlighted the importance of a comprehensive offer for smart trip planning that saves time and money.
Kiwi.com proposes and connects flights, transfers and other means of transport for users. The strong vision represented by Kiwi.com as a leader of the virtual interlining business model is also reflected in the announcement of the development of a “door to door” strategy they are actively working on, which delighted the conference participants.
“The entry of a large number of online travel agencies into the VI space has encouraged us to keep deepening the VI model through a door to door strategy, working on connecting with Uber and other technology companies from the passenger transport space”.
The representative of the largest European air ticket consolidator, Oleksii Murovtsev, Regional Director for Central and Southern Europe and Eurasia at AerTicket, continues the story of connecting and partnership and points out that companies from the travel and airline space should not be competition but should together form a distribution network that complements itself through partnerships.
On this occasion, cooperation was presented in the area of exchanging special airfare content with TMC, through which AerTicket gains access to the Croatian and regional market and TMC gains global strength, reflected through the network of special fares that AerTicket makes available to a whole range of corporate clients and agencies that use some of the technologies developed by TMC.
The significance of new technologies in the travel industry was also highlighted by Aleksandra Tomaszewska, senior sales manager for Central and Eastern Europe, and Oleksii Smotrov, in charge of software development at Travelport, the global travel distribution platform.
Aleksandra and Oleksii point out that, according to research carried out in 25 countries among 16,000 surveyed travellers, it is precisely technologies and digitalisation — such as apps and smartphones that let people pay and book services through an uninterrupted process from search to booking and payment — that are key to the travel experience and its value.
Nicole Zapp, Sales Director at Amadeus, touched on digital transformation in the travel industry, how it is changing the world and the travel experience through technologies that are omnipresent and that make our travels the backbone of wider social processes.
Boris Pirozhnikov, Chief Operating Officer of KupiBilet.ru, Russia's leading online air ticket distributor, presented the state and specifics of doing business on the Russian market, as well as the fact that their goal is to also expand into the sale of train tickets, which they predict will still have significant growth potential on the Russian market.
Boris also openly announced Kupibilet.ru's need to test the technologies they are developing on the EU market through online brands they intend to establish independently or through partnerships.
The next, 10th TMC conference has been announced for 30 May 2019.