India presents a unique opportunity for Amadeus to test and implement its latest technologies in a rapidly growing travel market, Decius Valmorbida, President, Travel, Amadeus said. 

The company that has partnered with major airports and Indian airlines including IndiGo and Air India and hotels expects an uptick in investments in travel tech of 14 per cent in the APAC region in 2024, according to its global research from Amadeus, Travel Technology Investment Trends.

Perfect playground

“In India, we perceive a ripe opportunity for the implementation of technologies like machine learning, AI, GenAI, biometrics and retail transformation. Hence, I believe India serves as the perfect playground for deploying these cutting-edge technologies and we eagerly anticipate collaborating with local stakeholders to make this happen,” Valmorbida said.

Alongside business growth plans, the travel technology market looks bright for 2024. Over two thirds (67 per cent) of senior decision-makers in the sector expect to increase investment specifically in technology this year when compared to spend in 2023.

Airports lead the pack with a projected 17 per cent increase in technology spending, followed by corporations (15 per cent), hotels (14 per cent), airlines and travel sellers (both 13 per cent) and travel payments (12 per cent).

Significant focus

“When you factor in all these aspects, it becomes evident that India is where we are focusing a significant amount of our attention. We already have clients like the Noida airport, a Greenfield airport and are in collaboration with leading airlines such as Indigo and the Air India group. Additionally, discussions with travel sellers like MakeMyTrip (MMT) are ongoing,” he explained.

In total, 60 per cent of airports expect to roll-out biometrics across the complete airport experience in the next five years, including check-in, bag-drop, lounge and boarding.

“Considering factors such as economic growth, the expansion of travel opportunities and the rise of the middle class, alongside the development of Greenfield airports and the influx of numerous aircraft, both in terms of passengers and crew, India emerges as a crucial market. Moreover, India stands at the forefront of the fintech industry, where integrating various systems tailored to local needs—such as rapid adoption of digital identification at airports by the tech-savvy younger generation—is imperative,” he added.

Some 85 per cent of respondents from the hospitality sector anticipate that personalisation could help them to deliver more than 5 per cent growth in incremental revenue. A third of travel payments leaders confirmed their organisations are planning to better manage global payments flows by implementing payments orchestration in the next 12 months, the report stated. 

Machine learning was perceived by travel industry leaders to be the most important technology to their businesses – both this year and in five years’ time. Data analytics and cloud are also seen as top investment priorities by all sectors.

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