Wired In.

Travel and trip planning in Latin America get easier

Esteban Torbar has seen first-hand how travel has changed in Latin America. "It's much easier to get around," says Torbar, executive vice president of Turismo Maso Internacional, the leading travel agency in Venezuela. "You can pretty much get from any point in Latin America to another... Everything has changed because of technology."

Torbar, whose company employs 200 people in 25 offices nationwide, remembers when most tickets were written by hand and booking airline seats was a time-consuming process done by telephone. Today, new technology is bringing efficiencies and connectivity to even the most remote Latin American travel agency, which can call up airline schedules, reserve rental cars and book hotel rooms using the Internet.

New on-line products and corporate software suites help travelers to better manage their itineraries and allow their employers to control expenses. And reservations networks like Sabre, Galileo and Amadeus have grown dramatically in Latin America. Says Torbar: "Sabre has done a great job helping travel agencies improve their technology capabilities."

That's no surprise to Chris Kroeger, Sabre's senior vice president and general manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Our commitment to Latin America is tremendous. It's an integral part of our growth plans," he says. "It's been our fastest-growing market for the last several years:'

The Sabre Group, a world leader in the electronic distribution of travel and related services, provides information technology solutions to airlines, travel agents, consumers and corporate travel managers. About 41,000 travel agencies use the Sabre reservations network -- 4,000 of them in Latin America. The company also owns Travelocity, a web site that registered 3.8 million unique visitors in March 1999.

Sabre books 53% of all airline reservations for Latin America, according to John Stow, executive vice president for sales and marketing worldwide. The company has offices in 30 Latin countries, up from three or four a decade ago, and growth is continuing at double-digit rates.

"We have an untapped travel agent base in Latin America that now can afford to get the technology to help them in their business," Stow said.

The new Sabre Net Platform allows even the smallest travel agency to connect to Sabre's network via the Internet. In the past, an agent would install a Sabre terminal connected by a data line -- all of which drove costs too high for low-volume sales agents. Since Sabre Net Platform's introduction in Latin America a few months ago, more than 500 agencies have signed up and sales are growing, Stow said.

Galileo International, which connects 39,600 travel agencies to its networks, has had a warm reception to a similar solution it launched in the late spring. Focalpoint Net enables travel agents to dial into Galileo's system from their desktops or laptops.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for us because it's cost-efficient both for us and the travel agency," says John Lovett, director of Latin America for Galileo, which entered Latin America in 1992-93. "Our growth in the market has been very significant -- in excess of 25%."

Amadeus, with more than 45,000 travel agency locations in 130 markets and 100 airlines connected to its data processing center, offers travel agents online connectivity, as well as software suites to help them manage their business. Corporate Traveller, launched in February 1999, is designed to streamline corporate booking and reduce travel costs.

"For us, Latin America has always been a key market," says Maria Escosa, general manager of Amadeus' Mexico, Caribbean and Central America territory. "In some key markets, we were the first back in the mid-1980s to give travel agencies the capability to become computerized," Amadeus does not disclose the number of its Latin America-based travel agencies.

Meanwhile, Amadeus' latest project may be of particular interest to business travelers everywhere. It is developing a Wireless Travel Management project in cooperation with the European telecommunications company Ericsson. Meant to extend the reach of Amadeus to travelers' mobile telephones, the project is in its infancy, but Escosa hopes it will someday be available in Latin America.

"Technology has really enhanced everyone's ability to travel," Escosa said. "In areas where Latin America used to be 10 or 15 years behind the United States, that gap no longer exists."

                         TRAVEL AGENCIES AFFILIATED
                         WITH RESERVATIONS NETWORKS

Network Worldwide Latin America
Sabre   41,000    3,950
Galileo 39,600    1,769
Amadeus 45,000    Not disclosed


SOURCE: Latin Trade; the International Air Transport Association
says there are 7,745 individual travel agency offices in Latin America