How is ATPI positioned in the business travel market?
Jean-Marc Dandurand : Historically, the ATP agency was born of the association of two major agencies, in the Netherlands and the UK, to create an international structure, with the vocation of serving global clients, with local operational bases in each country. The acquisition of Innstone, a world leader specialising in offshore and marine activities, led to the creation of the ATPI name, incorporating specific know-how in terms of air rates, crew rotations on oil platforms, etc. These operations often involve countries with difficult economic or political situations, but often the most important constraints are ultimately meteorological, involving last-minute management and unavoidable logistical skills. Today, the group is present on five continents in over forty countries, with more than sixty offices worldwide.
What about the MICE segment?
J-M D. : This is an offering developed over many years - the MICE branch of ATP Event Expert in France dates back to 1979 - aimed mainly at large companies, many of them in the pharmaceutical industry. A number of innovative products were developed in 2012 in response to buyer rather than communication issues. We offer to rationalise their expenditure through reporting and monitoring, and are working on combining and controlling this MICE expenditure with business travel. By managing these expenses, we can provide information that can be useful in terms of negotiations with suppliers, who are often the same. We deal with improving the customer's internal administrative tasks, in order to simplify operating procedures and administrative costs, without taking away the assistant's know-how.
What do you rely on to differentiate yourself in this competitive market?
J-M D. : Our approach is international to local, unlike other TMCs (Travel Management Companies) which consolidate a country-by-country approach into a global one. We have put in place specific tools, present in all ATPI centres worldwide, which enable us to rely on an identical operating mode. We operate on a customer-by-customer basis, irrespective of the country invoicing, to adopt a borderless approach. For example, we are one of the few agencies to have chosen Galileo: it's a global choice, which has enabled us to develop our own tools, and to have access to an inventory different from that available to other TMCs. The other point, and not the least, is that we base our service provision on the human resources, the men and women who make up our company, with an approach that prioritises offline over online. Historically, this has been a classic relationship, but one that is tending to disappear and which now represents added value. For the customer, it means bringing their company's travel spend under control, and significantly reducing their expenditure thanks to our tools, our skills and our know-how.
Today, more than ever, security is a decisive factor in business travel...
J-M D. : Our offshore branch means that we have access to so-called 'sensitive' destinations, which require information, exchanges with the company and tracking of travellers using our geolocation tool. Other TMCs offer this, of course, but the destinations we serve give us a specific advantage over our competitors, because we are better able to identify certain aspects of travel to particular destinations.
What are your priorities for the French market since you took over as head of ATPI France a year ago?
J-M D. : The year 2012 enabled us to reposition the company on the French market, where until then we had been primarily an operational base, whether for the business travel branch or for events, for that matter. We have put in place an organisation capable of generating growth from France in the very short term, notably by separating the corporate sector from the offshore and marine sectors, by streamlining our commercial offering, and by basing our products and services in a way that sets us apart from other TMCs. Having worked for a major business travel agency for several years, I know this market well, and we wanted to position our expertise in areas that other travel agencies don't offer. In other words, giving priority to offline over online services, pricing our tools appropriately rather than simply providing access to a database, drawing on our international expertise so that we can use references abroad, providing a service with staff dedicated exclusively to our customers and never pooling our teams... It's a direction that goes against the grain of what is being done elsewhere, to meet a different need on the part of companies. Today's companies may feel weary, abandoned, or simply poorly served by other agencies.
The TMC sector is going through a difficult period...
J-M D. : Indeed, even though the business travel sector will, I think, see very slight growth in 2013, mainly due to price rises, and even though companies have resumed their business travel very slightly, based on a 'best buy' policy. For our part, we are in a growth phase, for several reasons: we have diversified our activities, with MICE doing well and set to do even better in 2013. Diversification also involves 'classic' business travel and the offshore and marine segment, where companies have to manage new bases and new boats. We expect growth of around 5% compared with 2012 in this market, which will also be seen in the business travel sector thanks to our differentiating approach, which is driving new customers to place their trust in us. Companies have a choice: they can opt for an online or web-based tool, or they can turn to experts capable of managing the monitoring and assistance of their travellers, in addition to appropriate pricing. For example, we make sure that there isn't a cheaper fare right up to the departure date. We can do this thanks to a fares database that is superior to that of other travel agencies. We can check any airline fare offer in any country, thanks to our presence. This is an element of growth for us because we can take market share from the competition, rather than organically.
How would you sum up 2012, and what are your objectives for 2013?
J-M D. : Until the end of 2011, we were more focused on operational positioning than on a global approach. In 2013, I think we'll do more than €40 million in business, compared with €33 million in 2012. So we're seeing very strong growth in France, but we're still working on small volumes. We know we can count on strong growth potential, given the solutions we offer.
Could the new tools available, and the resulting empowerment of the traveller, ultimately threaten the role of TMCs?
J-M D. : Not from our point of view, because we focus our offer on services and very competitive fares, mainly best buy policies for our customers. We run counter to the business model of other travel agencies, basing our offer on service, transparency, traveller and business comfort, and value-added services such as the smartphone application. ATP On the go and a whole range of technologies to keep up with the times and give travellers maximum freedom while keeping company costs under control. In addition to service quality, which is the basis of our thinking, we base our performance indicator on the savings we are able to generate for the company, to the tune of 10 to 15 %.
