Starting a travel agency in india 2-3 years back was like joining a Country Club where you would need to know people or worked with people who were members to get in. Country club which we are talking about here is IATA which still has its own policies like
- Training to be completed to become a travel agent
- Fees for joining in etc.
It was a pre-requisite which was needed to complete before you could get a GDS like Galilieo, Amadeus installed at your place to access travel deals to offer to customers. Now first of all its important to make people understand GDS is not a technology solution for a travel agency, its a business solution as you cannot tie up with each individual airlines hence companies like galileo and amadeus negotiate comission structure with Airlines,Hotels etc and pass on buck to agent. Now in india what these companies have done is made compulsary for a travel agent to be offered services to be member of IATA (hence the term used as country club).
But past couple of months its been interesting to look how non- IATA travel agents have been growing and volume of travel e-commerce transactions is consituted by them. With advent of low cost airlines and their decision not to be part of any GDS (code of conduct for all low cost airlines ask them to do so) its become easier for agents to just register with them directly by depositing small cash amount of 25,000 INR and get discounts directly. As india does not have large number of airlines and travel agents based on their location and depending/selling one airline more than others. Its interesting to see how GDS has been bypassed completely.
Online travel agents are also trying to fill the gap by becoming a GDS in themselves once they have created substantial customer base by themselves to negotiate good pricing structure from these low cost airlines. So if you wish to start a travel agency just have a look at following check list
- Computer
- Broadband
- Telephone
- Money deposited with 2 low cost airlines
- If you got more money than get Indian Airlines. Trust me one of the most easiest to sell as people ask for it.
Update 2nd Jan 2007:
Thanks to all people for posting feedback. But the idea of the post is Travel Agents need in india. Keeping in mind everyone is talking about domestic ticketing volumes and new low cost airlines in india not interested nor part till day of GDS systems available. Its possible for agents to survive without being part of the GDS on offer today. Even big travel portals are not concerned on being dependent on GDS and they are trying to make their systems directly integrate with airline systems to get share of domestic ticketing volumes. So though you may right in terms of international travel booking i know companies personally doing volumes on domestic airlines and servicing clients locally without being part of GDS.
Keep Reading 
Yes They require GDS because all airlines at your doorstep where ever your passenger wants to travel
How else would the travel agent book an airline in Uganda sitting in Delhi ? It’s foolish to think otherwise
Come on.. Joke of the century..Travel agents without GDS ?
Fools paradise to think GDS not required for Agents !
Fish farm without a drop of water ?
Wonderful ! Great idea. Cut off the wings of a bird and ask him to fly. That simple..Agent without GDS ?
if we started cutting the commision then i think 1 day airline would be selling the tickets directly to the costumer no agents no GDS
I am sure you all are from Travel agents, you all dont understand the Pain of Airline with GDS.
With GDS Birds will have wings but no Air to support. Fish farm will be filled with water but fisher man around to catch. GDS for Domestic and LCC are not required and adding cost will make airlines die soon.
Great blog. Gives a lot of valuable insight!
Keep it up.
-K Naqvi
Very good article on fact for the Indian Travel Agency scenario today.
GDS is essential part of success of Indian Travel Agency now; till now online travel booking competition was limited and also no technology awareness.
However Indian web surfers are now smarter and broader. They will easily track that ‘A’ Travel Agency is better, cheaper and reliable compare to ‘B’ Travel Agency, though ‘B’ is older and No#1.
We are web & animation firm located in Mumbai and proud to have significant experience in Travel Portal Development for Indian Travel Agency.
I would like you to share your thoughts further.
Cheers India!
Where can you learn to handlethese systems?
I am running a small travel agency in our town.I have the broad band connection and other peripherals. So i need galelio system reservation. How i can get it. If u can help me to install the galelio reservation system please reply me on my email id anvar_madathil@yahoo.com
hi ,
thanks 4 ur valuable article,
i would like to start my career please tell me more about travel ticketing business
my email is teriyad@yahoo.com
cellphone is : 9818552619 delhi india
Hello everyone,
It’s really a very nice article on we. Do you people know how much it cost to any airlines if they facilitate their services through any GDS. As per my knowledge
For every ticket booked on these systems, airlines have to pay between $1 and $3 to the GDS company, leading to a revenue outgo of billions of dollars every year. Jet Airways paid about $40 m to GDS companies last year 2007.
Now think if a GDS cost so high how ou get low airfare. and think the other side if airlines sell the ticket direct to customer what will be the price… GDS is a good tool to facilitate all this services like availability, booking, ticket issuing and payment. But we can also do this without a GDS. But to be as a travel agent it’s really tough to handle all different airlines or package or hotel, search and selling.
I am a hotelier and i want to contected my hotel with GDS for booking. Please tell me how i will do it.
Its like a body without life…ha ha ha, quite a stupid question!!
The post is very informative and I think it truly reflects the current state of affairs in travel technology sector in India. I believe India could lead the way in transforming the in house technology capacity of airlines thereby making GDS redundant. The cost savings and discounts could be passed directly to customers leading to more competetive pricing and innovation.
I am planning to start my own online travel agency. Can someone please tell me what are costs and requirements associated with acquiring Amadeus system? Does Amadeus also display air fares? Who will pay my commission? Amadeus or someone else? Initially, I plan to start as a non-iata travel agency. Please also suggest some good software houses that can build an online travel site for me. If possible, please reply directly to my address, imran.zahid@rediffmail.com
Dear sir
I am running a portal for hotel bookings in India for my clients. I would like to take up flight bookings also to sell on-line through my portal http://www.indiahotelreservations.in.
Please advise me how to go about it.
Regards
rajagopalan
91 97319 47026
Hi
I want to open my own travel agency in Canada could you please tell me about the knowledge of sabre system, how to operate as I want to install this system. How much i have to pay for this.
kind regards
madhu
Hello Friends,
IXIA Data Labs Offers the GDS Services across the worlds. I was going through this article so would like to publish relevant information to you which can be relevant for all of us.
(Is just a copy paste form website but can be interesting to know more about it). Details can be found at : http://www.ixialabs.com
IXIA-CRS offers the most developped Central Reservation System. Its next generation seamless connectivity to all distribution channels, offers hotels instant rates and inventory update as well as hotel, room and rate descriptions and images. IXIA connects hotels to all GDSs, ADSs and ODD. 2,00,000 A Group IATA registered travel agent are powered by Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, Galileo GDSs. Hundreds of ADS, travel portals such as Travelocity, TravelNow, Expedia, Hotels.com are powered by these GDSs. Thousands of internet travel sales point is powered by ADSs. Pegasus ODD is another great channel to reach to thousands of sales point. Hotels keep up-to-date room inventory at IXIA.CRS, and any travel agent or customer can retrieve Real Time Online rate and room inventory and book instantly. Each booking is confirmed within 4-7 second. Transactions have been transmitted to hotels immediately. Here are the basics of IXIA-CRS:
GDS – “Global Distribution System”
IXIA – CRS offers “Next Generation Seamless” connectivity to all major GDSs. These are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan. Next Generation Seamless connectivity provides hotels instant update of all sales and marketing related information. Currently more than 2,00,000 A Group IATA registered Travel Agent use GDS terminals. Travel Agent directly search and book hotels next to airline ticket. GDS is the biggest travel sales channel. Your benefits:
* Being in biggest travel sales channel, reaching to thousands of travel agents,
* Power of managing your real time inventory and rates,
* Increase in travel agent confidence via up-to-date information,
* Commission based business will cost you less,
* Dinamic sales rules, packages, policies,
* Negotiated and contracted rates and sales management,
* Single point control of all channels instantly and easily.
ADS – “Alternative Distribution System”
IXIA – CRS provides connectivity to all major GDS powered ADS channels. So your hotel information, images, room inventory and rates in all travel portals. With the help of internet, your hotel becomes reachable by millions internet users. Some of these travel portals are Travelocity, Opodo, TravelNow, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Your benefits:
* Being in all major travel portals and reaching to millions of internet users,
* Power of managing your real time inventory and rates,
* Increase in consumer confidence via up-to-date information,
* Commission based business will cost you less,
* Single point control of all portals instantly and easily.
I hope it will help up
Does an Iata Travel Agent will always have a GDS or is it a pre-reqeuisite for an Iata Agent to have a GDS can a Non Iata Agent also have a GDS and are the policy of payment on the GDS different for a non Iata Travel Agent.From where can I get a Training of only how to use the GDs’s Amadeus,Sabre,Worldspan,Galileo.
I would like to start Travel business let me know the rules and regulations to start this business
hi madhu,
incase if you would like to know about sabre GDS you can mail me.
email- kevinx_25@yahoo.com
regards
sushil
Hi, everyone.
iam willing to start my own travel company and i want all the information regading a travel company
hi,
hi,
i am a new guy who is interested to be a travel agent but i dont know the procedure to became a travel agent my one of the best friend says that to be a travel agent in india iita course is compusory it is right or not i dont know any body help me ? my email id is vivek_cruze@yahoo.com you can send me a mail also yours new friend vivek.
hi sushil
please can u also email me the details of GDS and sabel and any ifo. on how to open agency in canada OR INDIA
my email id is daveparesh@hotmail.com
thanks
dave paresh
I get hotel information online when I travel back to IndiaSanjayhttp://www.newdelhiaccommodation.com
Hello All,
iam willing to start my own travel company in India and i want all the information regading a travel company
.
Please can you all information to the following mail:
My E-mail is kur5rt@yahoo.de