Amadeus, Seneca Partner on New Training Program

Amadeus-seneca-April15

Amadeus has joined forces with Seneca College in Toronto to launch the first program from Amadeus Training Services in North America designed to help train students and foster future professionals by educating them on industry-leading travel reservations technology provided by Amadeus.

“Our goal at Seneca College is to prepare students for their chosen careers, above and beyond what any other program might offer. We also have a strong emphasis on industry partnerships so we are excited to welcome Amadeus to our educational roster as a worldwide leader in travel technology,” said Angela Zigras, chair, School of International Business & School of Tourism, Seneca College. “This partnership will open up our students to an even bigger world of opportunities in the travel industry.”

The Amadeus Training Services team worked with Seneca’s Tourism and Travel Services (TIS) program faculty to create a highly customized curriculum. The program offers students courses at two levels of expertise. The first level, called Certified Professional, serves as an introduction to Amadeus reservations technology and trains students on booking fares, passenger name records (PNRs), and issuing tickets for airlines. The second level, called Certified Expert, trains students in advanced PNRs, profiles, working in Amadeus’ Queue System and training in hotel and rental car and booking solutions.

Launched in January at Seneca, the Amadeus Training Services program is offered to students over a 14-week period per semester and takes place over a full semester’s time. After passing the final exam, students can elect to have their contact information included in Seneca’s database, which is accessible by Amadeus agency customers, who are making hiring decisions.

“We’re very excited about this program launch as it will help enhance the influence and quality of travel agents in the industry. The partnership with Seneca College truly emphasizes our goal to shape the future of travel and prepare the agents of tomorrow. We will continue to partner with other universities and colleges in North America to offer similar programs. Additionally, we plan to further develop our e-learning courses in order to have a robust online offering,” said Oria Alcantara, regional director of Training Services Americas, Amadeus.

Travel agents offer a tremendous service and value to travellers, and that value is consistently expanding. Members of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) book more than 144 million vacations a year, and ASTA reported more than $17 billion in revenue for 2012.

And Vic Pynn, chief operating officer, Amadeus, mirrors those sentiments with his own unique view.

“My excitement about this program is two-fold: not only do I work for Amadeus, but I am a proud graduate of Seneca College,” said Pynn. “So I am uniquely pleased about our new partnership which will deliver quality education to students, but also ideally deliver more great travel professionals to serve the needs of our industry and travellers into the future.”

(http://www.senecacollege.ca/fulltime/TIS.html)