To assess the corporate online travel marketplace, PhoCusWright interviewed more than 75 executives at over 30 technology companies, online booking firms, travel agencies, travel management firms, suppliers, e-fulfillment companies and GDSs.  �Our findings show the Internet is transforming the purchase and distribution of corporate travel,� said Philip C. Wolf, chairman and CEO of PhoCusWright Inc.  One in five corporate travel transactions will be booked online by 2003, PhoCusWright projects.  

Leading players continue to battle for market share, including three companies owned by Global Distribution Systems (GDS): GetThere (Sabre), e-Travel (Amadeus) and Highwire/Travelpoint (Galileo).  While GetThere dominates the U.S. corporate online travel marketplace, new competitive pressures could change the landscape for all players in the next few years.

Other findings from Online Corporate Travel 2001-2003:

• Increased adoption remains a key challenge.  Corporations� most frequently cited requirements for online booking tools include: faster response and processing times, improved system stability, increased and targeted information and easy-to-use interface.  

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions will be instrumental in driving online adoption of corporate travel booking tools in the next two years.

• Online critical mass is helping to move the corporate travel market into a new lifecycle.  �Disintermediation,� the mantra of the 90s, has been replaced by �re-intermediation.�

• Savvy middlemen won�t become obsolete in the face of direct connects and other bypass.  The managed corporate online arena will continue to support a variety of channels and levels of service.

• The GDSs are well positioned to survive the changes in the marketplace as they process transactions for nearly all channel makers and link to major corporate customers, product suppliers and, now, their own online booking tools.

About PhoCusWright Inc.

PhoCusWright Inc. is a leading source of applied travel intelligence.  The company provides clients with strategic competitive-advantage and assists them in exploiting change through an ongoing business feed of research and analysis, leading industry events and hands-on consulting engagements.