Egencia has added another nine countries to its network of
local agency partners in markets where it does not have wholly owned
operations, the Expedia-owned travel management company said on Wednesday.
Six of the new countries are in Europe, with Sweden, Norway,
Denmark and Finland represented by Travellink, Greece represented by GS Travel
and Poland by Netmedia Business Travel. The other three new countries are
Philippines, South Africa and Thailand.
The latest additions mean Egencia now has partnerships in 25 countries as
well as wholly owned operations in 14 key markets. The partners are grouped
under the banner of Egencia Global Alliance, which was launched in 2009.
Having a balance of wholly owned and partner operations is
standard practice for TMCs with global aspirations, but most of Egencia’s
largest rivals have ownership in a larger number of countries. "We have
been growing significantly in the large and very large client markets and they
tend to be multinational companies with offices in a large number of
countries," said Cecilia Routledge, Egencia’s managing director
Asia-Pacific and head of global business development. "It has been a
matter of getting speed to market."
Routledge rejected the notion that Egencia customers might
suffer because it has full ownership in fewer markets, including some that
might be considered strategically important, such as Sweden. "The partners
we have are very well respected large corporate travel agencies in their own
markets," she said. "The service is a very high quality. The
important point for our global clients is to get reporting and understand where
they can optimise their travel programs. We can deliver that in all 39
countries. We put standards in place with all our partners."
Routledge added that Egencia is likely to add more countries
to its network and may opt for full ownership in some of the markets where it
currently has partnerships.