ESP E-TICKETING ERA LAUNCHES FOR CHINA'S
AIRLINES/CITIES.
China World Trade Corporation (BULLETIN BOARD: CWTD) (CWTC),
Tianhe, Guangzhou, China, has announced that 75% of its air-ticket sales
has been achieved through electronic air- ticketing by its subsidiary
Guangdong New Generation Commercial Management Limited (NG); and NG will
cautiously prepare for the complete implementation of electronic air-
ticketing (E-tickets) by 2007 all over China.
Figures showed that the E-ticket sales revenue nationwide in 2005
was US $530 million, which is 5 times to US $120 million as recorded in
2003. It is also estimated that the E-ticket sales revenue will be
reaching over US $630 million in 2006.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) has targeted to
replace paper air-tickets with E-tickets in 2007 all around the globe.
Being an IATA member, China has successfully implemented E-ticketing
through the IATA Billing & Settlement Plan (BSP) in more than 83
Chinese cities. As of February 23, 2006, an average of 40% of air-ticket
sales in Chinese IATA BSP travel agencies was in fact achieved through
E-ticketing. Big Chinese cities like Beijing, Chengdu, Haikou have
recorded an even higher proportion of 55% or above.
In the meantime, almost all China domestic airlines have joined the
E-ticketing BSP system, such as China International Airlines (Beijing),
China Eastern Airlines (Shanghai), Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai) and
Hainan Airlines (Haikou). By such arrangement, it is estimated that
China may even complete the switch to E-ticketing as early as the end of
2006.
Huge benefits come along with E-ticketing implementation. Chinese
customer will not worry about the ticket lost and no last minute queues
for tickets on departure. Travel agent will be able to make changes to
the actual ticket whilst the customer is on the phone, and for airlines,
it is estimated that approximately 9 US dollars in savings could be made
when an E-ticket is issued instead of a paper ticket.
"We hold a positive but cautious view to E-ticketing in China,
convinced by the promising growth rate of the sales all over the
country. 75% of our air-ticket sales through NG are now in fact
E-tickets," said William Tsang, president of CWTD, "Given the
lack of a comprehensive electronic payment in China, however, most
consumer are actually paying cash off-the-line. Despite that real
E-ticketing purchased online is still a dream to come true, we will keep
track of the technology development and stay in touch with the latest
trend in the ticketing area."
About China World Trade Corporation
China World Trade Corporation (CWTC) has established its business
in three distinct areas: the club and business centers throughout major
cities in China, business travel-related services, and business
value-added services. The Club and Business Center Division is devoted
to the building of the World Trade brand throughout China via the
opening and operating of business clubs in China's major,
positioning the CWTC to act as a platform to facilitate trade between
China and the world markets. The acquisition of CEO Clubs China Limited
(CEO Clubs) in May 2004 further complements CWTC's offerings by
targeting high-level corporate executives from premier companies. The
Business Traveling Services Division, New Generation, provides CWTC
access to the rapidly growing travel-related industry. New Generation is
a pioneer and market leader in the travel agency business through its
strong network of ticketing sales operations throughout Southern China.
The Business Value-Added Services Division focuses on value-added
services consultancy services to CWTC members and clients.
For more information, visit http://www.chinawtc.com.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Worldwide
Videotex Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.