Citing Online Growth, Amex Plans New Asia/Pac E-fulfillment Centers

American Express Global Travel Services today announced plans to open two new e-fulfillment centers in Sydney, Australia, and New Delhi, India, in the first half of next year, subject to regulatory approvals.

The new centers will support "the growing volume of American Express' interactive travel bookings in that region," just as centers in Miami, Montreal, Phoenix, Stockholm and Sophia Antipolis, France, support interactive travel reservations in Europe, North America and Latin America. According to American Express Interactive Travel Group vice president and general manager Rich Miller, "We're seeing in companies in the Asia/Pacific region an expansion of online bookings." Amex said the staff to be hired in the two new centers will provide both technical assistance on self-booking tools and such traditional travel services as en-route changes. Exact locations of the two new centers are not yet determined.

Amex said it has more than 2,500 clients that use an online booking tool and is providing e-fulfillment to clients from 21 countries in multiple languages. "Another 13 countries will be supported by the middle of next year," according to a press statement. "Nearly 1,000 American Express clients in Europe have embraced online booking tools and are being serviced through" the centers in Stockholm and Sophia Antipolis, which opened last fall. In the United States, one in four Amex reservations is made online--twice the 2002 level, which doubled the 2001 rate.