Category Archives: Technology

Visionize Technology, is helping pave the way for hotels and resorts around the region to reach new heights with the implementation of a state-of-the-art automation technology which facilitates internal staff operations, enhances the guest experience using in-room apps, lower overall business costs and generate more revenue within the F&B sector. The properties have estimated a staggering increase in the average spent per guest after the implementation of Visionize, mainly due to built-in smart marketing and upselling features, along with fantastic visual experience and a seamless multilingual interface. Visionize Technology Founder & CEO Mazen Chedid stated, “With the future of hospitality gearing towards a more seamless and data-driven experience, the implementation of our systems across numerous hotels around the region seems to be opening new doors to achieving higher revenue, faster operations and an improved guest experience.” Moreover, as the system’s artificial intelligence entirely tracks and analyzes F&B operations including the staff, kitchen and clearances, hotels have witnessed a significant decrease in human error and delivery time.

His Excellency the Minister of Tourism, Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, inaugurated the MT Unified Platform, which is the latest government service platform in the Kingdom, during the Digital Government Forum 2022 themed “Towards a Promising Digital Horizon.” The forum was organized by the Digital Government Authority recently in Riyadh, while several government agencies participated in the presence of Their Excellencies, as well as experts, specialists, and decision-makers in the field of digital government locally and internationally. In its first edition, the forum aims to showcase digital government achievements and success stories locally and internationally. It also seeks to enable digital community elites to meet, communicate, exchange experiences, build partnerships, discuss challenges and best modern technological practices, review future digital governments directions, and discuss investment opportunities within the Saudi digital sector. The forum also included a presentation of the most prominent digital government products, in addition to several new publications, most notably MT’s Unified Tourism Platform. The platform aims to attract investors and provide services to job seekers and tourism service providers as part of MT’s efforts to activate the Digital Tourism Strategy launched by His Excellency the Minister at the beginning of this year. The Unified Platform has an attractive design and a smart user interface that provides MT’s various services in a user-friendly fashion. It also provides information on each service as well as step-by-step explanations to ensure the users get the best experience. The Ministry was also keen on supporting the platform with the best technological services and allocated a technical support team for it to provide assistance. The Unified Platform development is part of MT’s efforts to enhance the digital transformation process in the Kingdom and contribute …

Sabre Corporation  celebrated the opening of a new office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last week in the presence of representatives from travel companies and partners.  “We are excited to continue delivering our investment plan in Saudi Arabia and celebrate the opening of the second new office in the Kingdom this year,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “This reflects our commitment and continuous efforts to expand our operations and team to support the increasing needs of our customers in the Kingdom. We have invested in building a knowledgeable and diverse team to give our customers the support they require.” “We believe our efforts in the Kingdom are aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy. We provide the technology and infrastructure to equip travel companies with the tools and solutions they need to help maximise their potential, provide exceptional customer experience and attract travellers from all around the world,” added Iyer.

Sabre Corporation and Conferma Pay announced a new partnership with Mastercard to accelerate the use of virtual cards for business-to-business (B2B) travel payments. The announcement builds on Sabre’s August 2022 acquisition of Conferma Pay.  The collaboration with Mastercard is the next step in advancing Sabre’s goal to create an open and independent travel payment ecosystem. Digitization of travel payments with virtual cards helps address the historic challenges associated with B2B leisure and corporate travel payments.  The securely generated, single use card numbers provide a link between booking and associated payments to third party suppliers.  Travel buyers and suppliers are therefore able to easily track and reconcile payments, as well as benefit from flexible pricing, financing options, and enhanced security through card payment guarantees. “The payments industry is in the midst of a revolution and there is an increased need for travel companies to better manage the whole payment experience,” said Roshan Mendis, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions.  “Companies in the travel space – including travel management companies, travel agencies, corporations, issuers and technology partners – need sophisticated solutions and seamless connections.  Sabre is taking strategic steps to fulfill the needs of our industry, beginning with the acquisition of Conferma Pay.  Now, the new partnership with Mastercard will help Conferma Pay to build new and enhanced digital capabilities in virtual cards, transforming the payment experience for issuers.” As part of the agreement, Mastercard has agreed to make a minority investment in Conferma Pay, which will continue to operate independently and serve the entire travel industry and beyond. “A combination of experience, technologies and capabilities will accelerate travel payment innovation and drive inclusive and sustainable growth for …

Elaf Travel and Tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Sabre Corporation cemented a long-standing relationship,  signing an exclusive agreement to drive the agency’s growth through advanced technology.  The agreement was signed at a ceremony attended by management and executives from both companies to celebrate a decade of successful collaboration. The agreement provides Elaf Travel and Tourism continued access to Sabre’s portfolio of innovative technology across the region, including its industry-leading workflow Sabre Red 360 and the latest mobile, data analytics, personalization and automation capabilities. “We are excited to confirm our relationship with Sabre, which will continue support our growth and technology plans,” said Dr. Adel Ezzat, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Elaf Group. “We are working together to deploy the latest solutions and capabilities, transform our business, and advance our offerings to enrich our customers’ experiences – particularly online.” Using SR360, the agency will have access to Sabre’s marketplace of more than 420 airlines, 750,000 hotel properties, and hundreds of tour operators, rail, car and cruise providers, enabling it to sell personalized travel packages from suppliers all around the world. “We are happy the Elaf Travel and Tourism recognizes the value of our technology and trusts the dedication and expertise of our local team,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “Elaf Travel and Tourism has a wide range of services catering to the online, offline, and corporate travel sectors and we are committed to deliver products and solutions that meet their diverse customer needs and help the company to scale and expand its business to meet the high expectations of the tech-savvy Saudi travelers.”  

Amadeus signed technology partnership agreement with Safe Travel & Services, one of leading travel agencies in UAE. The travel company provides comprehensive range of services for individual travelers, corporate clients, and groups from and to the UAE, including customized packages and visa services. Under the agreement, Safe Travel & Services and its customers will benefit from various Amadeus products and solutions. These include Amadeus Online Suite, an omni -channel e-commerce solution to expand online presence and deliver a wealth of quality tailored content; Business Management Platform, incorporating various solutions such as robotic ticketing tools and sales data management systems to support pricing, analysis, and ticketing automation through a single platform. Also included in portfolio is Amadeus All Fares Plus, which helps agents find best air deals by comparing multiple content sources, including NDC-enabled content, and Amadeus B2B Wallet to offer payment options. Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, said: “With travel gaining momentum as more countries open their doors to travelers, we are committed to supporting Safe Travel & Services in rapidly finding the best air deals for its customers and providing a seamless end-to-end travel payments solution offering greater choice, reach, and orchestration.” Raed Baidas, General Manager of Safe Travel & Services, said: “To address challenges of the modern tourism industry, we know that planning, developing, and adapting to evolving needs of the market is key to our success. Adopting Amadeus’ latest technology solutions will help us realise our ambitions and position us strategically as we strengthen our customer relationships and take our value-offering to the next level.” As the travel ecosystem evolves, the industry is ready to upgrade and enhance systems and processes and have in place …

Sabre Corporation hosted an interactive event for key travel players in Saudi Arabia. The event, which took place in Riyadh last week brought together key decision-makers from travel companies, online agencies and corporations to discuss the evolving industry landscape in the kingdom and the region, the need for digital transformation and Sabre’s latest technology solutions. “Saudi Arabia is a particularly exciting country to be in right now,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “It has a bright vision to build a progressive global tourism brand, and our customers need the right technology to help them leverage this unique opportunity for growth.  In parallel, the industry has become more complex post-pandemic, so simplifying the travel journey will be particularly important.  We will continue to deliver best-in-class technologies, including AI-driven products to travel agencies, across the region to help our travel partners tap into this growth.” At the Riyadh event, Sabre showcased its latest technology, including corporate solutions, application programming interface (APIs) and automation, and outlined how these solutions can increase efficiency through automation, allowing agents to spend more time to serve their customers and keep track of latest trends.  Solutions in the online and mobile space were also highlighted, in addition to innovative point-of-sale, Sabre Red 360, which offers an intuitive, customizable workflow and significant benefits for travel agents, including reduced training time and costs.  The technology is proven to reduce training times from weeks to hours. “We are helping some of the leading travel agencies in Saudi enter the online space, through access to intelligent technology that can personalize the customer journey,” continued Abdul-Razzaq. “Travel agencies continue to evolve, adapting to new consumer needs and leveraging …

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Company for Visa and Travel Solutions (SVTS) for broader collaboration on streamlining travel arrangements. The signing took place during the first day of the World Travel Market in London between Wael Basaffar, SAUDIA’s VP sales, and Abdullah Aljorias, the Chief Business Officer of SVTS. According to the MoU, the two parties will share the use of each other’s office spaces around the world and co-invest in technological solutions for online interconnectivity. The two companies will also explore ways to create, develop, and apply joint services and marketing. In addition, the MoU proposes the possibility of joint operations support bureaus to help run day-to-day activities. There is also a possibility of SAUDIA offering exclusive deals across its international network. Mr. Basafar said that the MoU comes as part of SAUDIA’s commitment to broadening its partnerships with government agencies and the private sector locally and internationally for greater online interconnectivity of services, which supports the Kingdom’s digital transformation agenda and plans to streamline travel arrangements for visitors from across more than 100 destinations in four continents. Mr. Abdullah Aljorias, Chief Business Officer, clarifies that the memorandum was signed to enable the company to reach its long-term objectives. The primary purpose is to provide all new and innovative solutions and digitization services that contribute to simplifying processes for passengers. It also works to benefit from all the service and sales centers across the world that both companies provide. According to Aljorias, SVTS looks forward to ongoing partnerships that encourage a wide range of government, semi-government, private sectors, and individual beneficiaries.

Kanoo Travel, the first IATA member agency in the GCC and prominent force within the Middle East’s travel Industry, has unveiled their key strategic initiatives (2023-2027). The future roadmap builds upon a robust digitalization plan to deploy state-of-the-art technology, utilize cloud-based contact centers, and enable intelligent retailing to provide customers with a highly tailored next-generation travel platform. As the largest travel management company in the MENA region, Kanoo Travel’s new strategy will prioritize key investments in artificial intelligence and digital platforms, data analytics software and cloud based infrastructure solutions to redefine the entire customer travel journey and experience at every touchpoint. This is in line with the company’s mission to provide the most sophisticated travel solutions on a global level, and cater to the needs of the future travelers’ changing behaviors and needs. “Mr. Ali Abdulla Kanoo – President of Kanoo Travel ” The Kanoo Family takes priority in investing in our travel division and its people. Through this investment, we are also strengthening our technological skills to give our customers a fulfilling journey. We are consistently striving to grasp opportunities and reacting by developing and setting best practices, all while responding to the changing marketplace. Our future roadmap 2023-2027 and its outlined strategic initiatives will target the future of travel for both the individual and the corporation.” Zaeem Gama  –  Kanoo Travel CEO, commented, “Kanoo Travel is now entering a new phase, backed by a extensive corporate strategy and full-scale digital transformation master plan that will enable prominent improvements, allowing us to become faster at identifying and addressing shifts in the landscape, exploring diverse revenue stream opportunities, in addition to engaging with new potential global travel management partners.” He …

Sabre Corporation and Oman Air announced at the World Passenger Symposium (WPS), a renewed long-term agreement to help the airline reach its strategic goals. The agreement includes a multi-year renewal of Oman Air’s SabreSonic Passenger Service System (PSS) and a further multi-year extension of its global distribution system agreement.  This will ensure Oman Air continues to utilize Sabre’s technology, retailing capabilities and global scope to push forward its digital transformation. By renewing its exclusive PSS agreement and investing in Sabre’s Digital Connect APIs, Oman Air aims to advance its digital retailing strategy, drive revenue growth and increase self-service capabilities. Digital Connect will also help Oman Air accelerate its digital transformation and bring products to the marketplace quickly, providing scalability and flexibility across its digital touchpoints, such as its website and mobile app. “A new approach of retailing is required for all players in the travel ecosystem to succeed in a highly competitive landscape,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer, Sabe Travel Solutions.  “This intelligent retailing approach allows Oman Air to differentiate its brands and personalize its offerings through all channels.  It also enables agencies to efficiently shop and compare increasingly sophisticated offers, which will also bring greater choice and transparency to Oman Air’s travelers.  As Sabre focuses on delivering more intelligent retailing solutions to meet changing traveler expectations, I’m proud that we are able to help Oman Air realize its transformation vision.” The renewed distribution agreement enables Oman Air to continue to reach Sabre’s valuable network of global buyers, while ensuring that Sabre-connected travel buyers have access to the airline’s comprehensive fares and content – including ancillaries. “We are pleased to announce the renewal of our PSS as well as …