Travelport launches Trip Assist in Asia Pacific

Wednesday, 19 July 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Travelport has launched Trip Assist, a new mobile product for agencies, in Asia Pacific.

Trip Assist will help travel agencies by providing advanced mobile travel capabilities such as flexible itinerary management, real-time communications and day of travel assistance.

Commenting on the launch of Trip Assist in APAC, Travelport Digital CCO Fergal Kelly said: “The increasingly connected traveller expects support throughout their trip. Customer engagement via mobile is now critical for agencies of all sizes and we believe that the business travel industry and business travellers are not yet well-served. We are delighted to bring Trip Assist to TMCs and travel agencies in this region as part of Travelport’s continuously expanding range of services.”

With high internet and mobile penetration, travellers in APAC expect faster and easier access to travel. Mobile bookings in APAC are growing at a faster rate than in any other region. In the past five years, mobile travel sales have seen double digit growth in markets like South Korea (58.7%), Australia (52.2%) and China (49.9%). It is estimated that by 2020, 76% of the growth of online travel will come from mobile sales.

Trip Assist provides a personal digital travel concierge service, smart itinerary management, day of travel assistance, push-notification reminders, real-time alerts and the ability to call an agent from within the app.

One of the key elements of Trip Assist is Travelport Engage, a flexible mobile messaging tool which delivers personalised travel updates during and after every trip. Real-time assistance is always at hand – with the tap of a finger, travellers are connected directly to a support agent. Traveller engagement is the main focus with later features planned to encourage user control via the ability to request flight changes, select preferred seating and the ability to synch trip information with personal calendars from within the app.

Travelport Trip Assist has already been launched in the EMEA region, with launch customer XL Travel in South Africa.