Travelport Joins Travalyst
Travelport has joined Travalyst as part of its commitment to driving sustainability forward in travel retailing.
It will also implement the Travalyst data methodology and will build capabilities in the Travelport+ platform to help its travel management company (TMC) and agency customers accelerate sustainable travel by providing them the tools to effectively sell the most eco-friendly offers and report on sustainability.
Travelport joins some of the world’s largest travel and tourism platforms and service providers, which include Travalyst’s founding partners Booking.com, Skyscanner, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor, and Visa, as well as recently joined partners, to actively collaborate in resolving the industry’s greatest challenges in sustainable travel.
Travalyst is concentrated on delivering universal transparent reporting on emissions and sustainability efforts to empower travel retailers, corporates, and travellers to choose the most sustainable trip options. Travelport decided to join the Travalyst coalition to take an active role in the collaboration that will drive the industry reporting standards needed to empower travel agents and travel managers.
Sally Davey, Chief Executive Officer at Travalyst, said: “As the newest member of the Travalyst coalition, Travelport will bring invaluable knowledge and expertise in helping us drive mass adoption of sustainability standards with its integral role connecting agencies and suppliers.”
Davey continued: “Our shared commitment to industry-wide collaboration and simplifying how information about sustainable offers is shared and reported will be a tremendous asset to the travel agency community.”
Travelport has also recently joined the GBTA Sustainability program alongside many global travel industry leaders, such as American Express Global Business Travel, Delta Airlines, Hilton and SAP Concur. Travelport’s participation in the sustainability leadership council will help guide GBTA’s efforts, define priority areas for collaborative and global action, and help the business travel industry contribute to climate action and corporate responsibility. As a founding member, Travelport’s product and technology leaders will take an active role in driving initiatives to inform and empower the corporate travel sector with better sustainable travel options for businesses.
Tom Kershaw, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Travelport, said that: “It is incredibly important for us to take action and collaborate as an industry on unifying and scaling the way we report on sustainability standards, so everyone can become informed and make sustainable travel more feasible for corporates, agents and travellers.”
And Kershaw added: “Travelport is making great strides in modernizing travel retailing with its Travelport+ platform, which can help retailers determine the best eco-friendly travel itineraries.”
Travelport recently established a new sustainability office within its product strategy team which will focus on prioritizing sustainability across product roadmaps and future development. While actively participating in The Travalyst Coalition and the GBTA Sustainability program, Travelport’s product and technology team will incorporate sustainability data as a first-class citizen to enhance search and shopping capabilities in the Travelport+ platform. The new sustainable shopping and reporting features will begin to roll out in 2023 and will help travel retailers become more informed so they can easily book the most eco-friendly options for their travelers. Travelport will also explore opportunities to combat challenges with data integration and neutralizing the negative impacts on emissions.
“At Travelport, we are championing open-sourced data to address key challenges with integration and being able to inform agents and travellers about the best sustainable options for their trips, regardless of price or other factors,” Tom Kershaw continued. “As an industry, we have a long road ahead to make an impact with sustainable travel and my team is up for the challenge. We’re committed to delivering the tools agents and travel managers need to identify the best eco-friendly offers and help companies maintain their sustainability commitments.”
