A TRULY PRODIGIOUS DOUBLE DECADE FOR TRAVEL

Today is my 20th anniversary working at the global travel technology provider Amadeus. After many years as a journalist and then advising corporations, I found a fantastic industry made of the stuff of dreams, plus tons of best-in-class technology, diversification and the best available innovation!

On the pictures, great souvenirs from the launch of “Voyage of Discovery”, the Amadeus-commissioned study on accessible travel in 2017: from left to right hand side, I served as master of ceremonies at the press event, where the white paper’s ?findings were thoroughly explained by?Fernando Cuesta, by then managing director of Amadeus in Spain;?Tomas López Fernebrand, senior vice president, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Amadeus; Mónica Clemente, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus and Fundación ONCE’s director for universal accessibility, Jesús Hernández Galán.

I discovered the travel sector through Amadeus. And I love this industry since then! I have also had the privilege of attending, from the front line, to the awesome evolution of this industry -ahead of the curve as compared to many others- towards the latest technology with a key focus on the traveler experience.

More images bring memories from the Exceltur, travel leadership forum event in Madrid in 2016, where I had the opportunity to ?do a video interview for our corporate blog with Lee Mc Cabe, then Global Head of Travel & Commercial Services, at Facebook; and also supporting Alex Luzarraga, ?Amadeus’ Corporate Strategy vice president in those days, to prepare an upcoming interview.?

Over the past 20 years, the way we travel has changed dramatically. Many of you were not yet born. Others just forgot a few details that seem unbelievable to us today. Do you remember that two decades ago - even though some online agencies were already in existence as early as 1989-, the only way to book a flight and a hotel was through a travel agent office?

Many may have also forgotten the fact that, if you wanted to take off, you could not go to the airport without the paper ticket that accredited you for the trip, a document that was issued by a travel agent. Electronic tickets were a thing of the future (in fact, Amadeus was a pioneer in the promotion of e-tickets among the travel agent community, achieving their implementation well ahead of the May 31, 2008 deadline set by IATA).

Before making the necessary arrangements to travel to a distant destination, it was necessary to go to the bank and get some bills in the specific currency, since ATMs were not so widespread (I remember a colleague who, for 'difficult' travel destinations, only relied on American Express traveler checks that he then converted into actual money at the offices of that corporation in the given country).

Photo courtesy by Tama66/pixabay.com

Digital technology did not yet prevail among us and there were no Google Maps, GPS or other applications with interactive information about the tourist spots around us. Thus, travelers needed paper maps, as well as travel books to prepare their long-distance trips and guide them on the ground. In the absence of a cell phone, one had to rely on telephone booths in the country of destination to communicate with family. The iPod came on the market in 2001, but it was not widespread, and most travelers carried their travel music on their portable CD players (on CD media) and Walkmans (on magnetic cassette tape media).??

In those days, it was only a little over a year ago that airplanes and intercity buses had banned smoking on board. And those were the days when they didn't confiscate your Victorinox knife or your bottle of mineral water at baggage control.

Regular airlines included food and beverages in the ticket price – years later we’d live times of less generosity on board.

In those days, there was no Facebook or Instagram, so most travelers were armed with an SLR or compact camera. Unlike the hundreds of shots of cell phone cameras that are the norm today, the tourist of 20 years ago took fewer pictures, as they weren't digital but analog, with 35mm reels and capacity for 24 or 36 photos -and it was not advisable to waste the photos taken due to the high cost of development and copies that followed after.

Upon arrival at the destination, people used to buy, write and send postcards to family or friends with colorful images of the city they were traveling to. We hadn’t reached yet the future times allowing us to send pictures, video clips or voice-messages through WhatsApp on arrival.

Overall digitalization and evolving mobile telecommunications have transformed the industry and the way we travel. The last 20 years have seen the emergence of new elements that shaped travel the way we experience it today:

§?cheaper flights (launch of no-frills/low cost airlines)

§?collaborative economy on the rise (shared travel experiences),

§?airlines segment their offer according to different needs and considering how much the traveler is willing to pay for them (birth of ancillary services including aspects such as lounge access, extra baggage, meal preferences or seat on board with extra space),

§?customers have the final say (empowered by social media, through user-generated content, customer reviews),

§?sustainability is increasingly gaining weight in the travel sector (travelers choose means of transport and destination based on their environmental impact)

2O years ago, we had just jumped from one century to the next one. The fast-evolving technology left behind the legacy systems and old school travel, propelling us into the threshold of a universe where Star Trek’s “Beam me up, Scotty!” notion could be closer than ever. Who knows what’s next? Even if we accept the theory in the old tango “Volver” that 20 years might not be a big deal, they sure changed how we travel big time!

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