Travelport has enhanced its eCommerce portfolio of products and grown its roster of leading online travel agent (OTA) clients in the Asia Pacific region.

Mumbai-based Cleartrip is the latest OTA to sign a multi-year agreement, selecting Travelport's Galileo platform as its preferred GDS. Cleartrip selected the Galileo Web Services 2.0 solution, part of a suite of professional services that are easy to use and cost effective.

"With Galileo Web Services, we were able to easily integrate Galileo's travel content with Cleartrip's own proprietary systems. There was no need for investment in additional software as access is via the Internet," said Tarique Khatri, Vice President - Business Development, Cleartrip.

Travelport's Cleartrip OTA win follows South Korea's online powerhouse, Interpark, which cut over to Galileo in September 2009 and was the company's largest customer win in South Korea last year. "Galileo Web Services was not only deployed in Korean language but was also supported by technical help documentation, code samples, test pages and toolkits to expedite the development process. We also had a Galileo expert team to help us integrate and deploy Galileo travel content to our customers in South Korea," said Dong Hyun Cho, General Manager - IT Support Division, Interpark Tour Corporation.

"Supporting customers with their eCommerce needs remains pivotal to Travelport's core services. We recognise that each travel agency and OTA customer has different levels of eCommerce requirements," said Shelley Beasley, Managing Director - Pacific, Travelport GDS. "Some clients are looking for a website only, others for booking engines while some need search optimisation tools. We've therefore created a flexible platform of products, services and tools that can be tailored to the individual needs of agencies and their travel customers," she added.

In January, Travelport rolled out Galileo Online Travel Affiliate in Australia and New Zealand. Galileo Online Travel Affiliate, the latest enhancement to Galileo Online Travel (GOT), is a web-based tool, targeting travel agents that need to manage multiple online booking sites, third party websites or social networking sites. The online solution is already being used by Queensland-based MTA Travel and Perth-based ORBA Travel Bookers.

"In 2009, we've seen consumers purchase more travel online than ever before, particularly for leisure travel," Beasley said. "Online travel is the fastest growing segment in the Asia Pacific worth almost US$30 billion annually according to PhoCus Wright research, with online travel agents holding approximately 43% share of that business. Many online travel agents showed recession proof resilience in 2009 and a flair for growing share during tough times. And they are slated to continue growing as they diversify their product and content offering beyond flights."