The past couple of months was a busy time for the team at Verteil. We attended many key travel trade shows that gave us the opportunity to connect with travel sellers and understand the challenges they dealt with.Taking part in these events helped us get in touch with top industry leaders and leverage the importance of NDC in travel distribution and airline retailing. Here’s a recap of all the events Verteil was a part of in the last 45 days.
A series of impactful travel events
Global events
ITB Asia - Singapore
Date: 19 - 21st October
Venue: Sands Expo and Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
ITB Asia is Asia’s biggest B2B travel trade show featuring many exhibitors from MICE, Leisure, Corporate Travel and Travel Technology. The three day event was organised by Messe Berlin in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Exhibition Convention Bureau. Some of the core topics covered in the event included travel technology, travel distribution, direct booking, corporate travel and global consumer trends.
The event gave us a good insight into the contributions made within the travel distribution space. Interacting with many travel agencies, most of them based in Asia, gave us an excellent exposure into exploring the latest trends within the Asian travel market.
Though the adoption of NDC is swiftly growing, we still have a long way to go for everyone within the travel community to realise its full potential. As one of the travel tech exhibitors in ITB Asia, we could easily reach out to travel agents and demonstrate the value-added benefits they could get from adopting Verteil Direct Connect for airline booking.
IATA WPS - Bahrain
Date: 1st - 3rd November
Venue: Gulf Hotel Bahrain, Manama, Bahrain
The IATA World Passenger Symposium (WPS) focused on the different ways airlines could improve the flying experience of passengers. The symposium, hosted by Gulf Air, had an active participation of over 100 airlines and 60 exhibitors showcasing multiple product offerings that help airlines get the direct connectivity they want with their customers.
In addition to making flying more accessible for passengers with disabilities, the sessions also touched upon the latest technological innovations within airline retailing and the growing importance of contactless travel.
Airlines are already making great headway into improving the retailing experience of their customers via NDC. Our focus at the event was to emphasise the need to include NDC aggregators within the distribution space and dive into the advantages it brings to full service airlines and low cost carriers.
Abdul Bijur, Chief Growth Officer at Verteil took part in a panel discussion that talked about competition within the NDC aggregation space. He helped shed some light into how the competitive landscape improves the travel experience of customers. Verteil was also a part of IATA’s IFG User Forum that took place in Bahrain. Jerrin Jos, CEO at Verteil, along with three other panel members spoke about the integral role IFG plays in airline distribution.
WTM London
Date: 7th - 9th November
Venue: ExCel London
The World Travel Mart (WTM) holds six B2B trade show events every year across Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Europe. The central focus of these events is to provide travel sellers a clear picture on the latest trends within the industry and create brand awareness by networking with top businesses in the travel and tourism space.
WTM London is an annual event that takes place in ExCel every November. It features important speakers from different verticals of the industry like travel tech, airlines, hospitality and responsible tourism.
Our time in WTM London was busy but a happy one. We got in touch with many travel agents from the UK and other regions within Europe. The team had their hands full demonstrating how NDC makes travel distribution better and the benefits agents could reap with a direct connect solution like Verteil.
Qantas Distribution Platform Technology Partner Showcase
Date: 21st November
Venue: Novotel Sydney Central, 169-179 Thomas St Sydney
The Qantas Distribution Platform Technology Partner Showcase focused on the different approaches technology partners take towards NDC and the improvements they’ve made within their own distribution platforms. The sessions also covered the advantages the agency community could tap into by accessing Qantas’ NDC content through these platforms.
The event hosted over 140 travel agents from Australia and New Zealand. Satheesh Satchit, CPO at Verteil gave a session on the future of airline distribution. The presentation explored the different ways in which VDC streamlines the flight booking process and how it aids customers in getting better visibility into Qantas’ product offerin
Events within India
Global Panorama Showcase
The Global Panorama Showcase holds a B2B travel trade show every year across different regions in India. It gives domestic and international travel sellers a chance to connect and discuss the potential of each region the events are hosted in. The event targets local travel agencies and lets them explore different opportunities to upscale their businesses.
GPS Ahmedabad
Date: 14th - 15th October
Venue: Hotel Courtyard Marriott, Ahmedabad
GPS Ahmedabad was the first physical event to be conducted after a two year hiatus. The halls overflowed with many exhibitors ranging from DMCs, hoteliers to travel tech companies. The two day event gave us a good opportunity to forge strong business partnerships with travel agencies in Ahmedabad and other regions across Central India.
GPS Kochi
Date: 18th - 19th October
Venue: Crowne Plaza, Kochi
Kerala’s tourism market is pretty huge. Our team had one-on-one meetings with some of the well-known travel agencies within the region and discussed the various potentials they could unlock by issuing their tickets with NDC.
GPS Vizag
Date: 10 - 11th November
Venue: Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach, Visakhapatnam
GPS Vizag set the stage for us to meet many B2B travel agents and walk them through the changes NDC brings to the airline distribution space.
GPS Indore
Date: 17 - 18th November
Venue: Indore Marriott Hotel, Indore
Indore was the last GPS event we attended this year. These events gave us a deeper look into the current challenges faced by the Indian travel community. Verteil was one of the chief exhibitors at GPS Indore. This set the stage for us to demonstrate the unique product offerings of Verteil and how our NDC platform helps provide better transparency into airline distribution.
Summing up
2023 has plenty of exciting travel events in store and we plan to be a part of it all. We can’t wait to build connections with more top names in the industry and increase the number of NDC enthusiasts within the travel sector.
Want to reach out to us?
If you are from an airline, into corporate travel, or a travel agent, we would love to tell you more about how Verteil Direct Connect can help you.
Please write to us on sales@verteil.com for further information.
IATA Agents can register here to get started with Verteil
Non IATA Agents can register here
