Direct Connect: Will it Happen?

Summary

Travel practically defined e-commerce. Travel agents (TAs) and, later, consumers were able to shop for and book travel online far ahead of the broader, Internet-based e-commerce revolution. It took leading edge technology, advanced systems design and intercompany cooperation to support the global reservation systems for travel. Travel companies, using available technology and connectivity, created efficient and effective intermediated distribution systems for major travel suppliers that have served the travel agency community and embryonic online shopping very well. Even with a strong intermediated model as implemented by global distribution systems (GDSs), many fragments of the industry, enabled by the access afforded by the Internet, have resisted going through intermediaries.