Amadeus powers China's TravelSky bookings

MADRID -- For the first time China's 7,000-plus travel agents can officially make reservations with hotels and car rental companies through a Chinese computer reservation system (CRS). Amadeus Global Travel Distribution has announced an agreement with TravelSky Technology Ltd. to provide China's only computer reservation system access to Amadeus' inventory of some 58,000 hotels, 50 car rental companies and numerous other travel related products including ferry, rail, and cruise operations.

"Becoming the preferred GDS for such an important market strengthens our commitment to China, said José Antonio Tazón, president and CEO of Amadeus. "We will move quickly to the next phase, accelerating our development of a host of new generation electronic distribution and travel e-commerce solutions appropriate for the China market."

TravelSky, a Chinese computer reservation system, is subscribed to by 7,000 Chinese travel agents. It is also the leading foreign airline booking distributor with over 28,000 user terminals placed across 300 cities and 130 airports in China.

"This agreement is a landmark in the development of China's outbound tourism industry," said Zhu Yong, President of TravelSky Technology Ltd. "It is the first time that Chinese travel agencies will officially be able to access a global distribution system providing hotels, car rentals, as well as other related products worldwide". He said he expects that reservations through Amadeus to begin in the last quarter of 2002.

Chinese travelers

Zhu said an estimated 13 million Chinese will make overseas trips in 2002, spending around US$2,000 per person, excluding hotel and transportation expenses. Chinese citizens traveling overseas in 2000 numbered 10.5 million, with 8.8 million selecting Asian destinations, primarily in Southeast Asia, while 1.1 million traveled to Europe, and 500,000 to the Americas.

TravelSky completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in February 2001. Amadeus has a minority equity interest in TravelSky.

Amadeus is a leading global distribution system (GDS) and technology provider serving the marketing, sales and distribution needs of the world's travel and tourism industries. Its data network and database, amongst the largest of their kind in Europe, serve 57,950 travel agency locations and more than 10,500 airline sales offices in over 200 markets worldwide.

Through the Amadeus System, travel agencies and airline offices are able to make bookings with 466 airlines, representing more than 95 per cent of the world's scheduled airline seats. The system also provides access to approximately 58,000 hotels, 50 car rental companies serving some 24,470 locations, and other provider groups including: ferry; rail; cruise; insurance and tour operators.

e-Travel, the e-commerce business unit of Amadeus and the global leader in online travel technology, provides the booking engine behind the Web pages of 2,270 travel agencies, 170 corporate sites, 17 hotel sites and 124 web sites serving 35 airlines. 

Founded in 1987, and fully operational from 1992, Amadeus is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. The Amadeus data center is in Erding (near Munich), Germany and its principal development offices are located in Sophia Antipolis (near Nice), France. The company has some 3,950 employees worldwide.