Even companies that are not simply Internet booking agents are moving online, and seeing that part of their business increase exponentially. This follows trends in the US, where 41 percent of people now book plane tickets online.
-We're seeing increases every month of 50 to 60 percent," said Kenneth Chin, e-commerce manager at Harvey World Travel. -It's off a small base, so it's still a very small part of our business."
Harvey World Travel, who does around A$1 billion in ticket sales each year, went online earlier this year. -We're spending very little money on advertising," said Chin. -We're working at slowly increasing the business, letting it grow on the brand name."
-It's difficult to say how long the trend will last, but there is a long term trend towards doing more bookings on the Internet. But if you look at the bookings being made, they're very low margin."
According to Chin, most online sales are simple point-to-point domestic airfares. -Most customers are buying Qantas Red E-deals, that seems so be driving sales" he said. -Overseas holidays tend to be more complicated, so people prefer to come in to a travel agent."
American Express has provided an online booking service called RezPort for its customers since 1998. In late October it introduced a new service, Corporate Travel Online (CTO). While RezPort is aimed at SMEs, CTO is aimed at large companies.
-As companies are looking to save money they are turning to the Internet," said Gouranga Dhanagare, e-commerce manager for Amex Asia Pacific. -From a convenience perspective it's really great."
The online booking system also ensures more policy compliance. -These interactive booking engines have rule based systems" said Dhanagare. -So if the company has a policy of no business class travel within Australia, we can set up the system so employees cannot book business class."
Dhanagare believes companies are beginning to respond to the benefits offered by the new systems. -Over the last 12 months, the take-up of the product is much higher than the 24 months before that," he said. -We are getting much higher penetration, with businesses using our service more."
