Category Archives: Technology

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 …

flydubai launched its revamped portal that has been redesigned to better serve its travel trade partners. flydubai’s new Travel Agency Portal has been redesigned with a fresher visual look and provides a more personalised online experience with a range of advanced features and self-service tools, catering to the needs of its travel trade partners. The revamped portal includes improved functionalities for travel agents when creating or amending passengers’ bookings and introduces new features within the agency management section that offers greater efficiency and ease of use. The dynamic new portal has been upgraded using the latest technologies and adheres to IATA’s Billing and Settlements Plan (BSP) to facilitate payments. Commenting on the new Travel Agency Portal, Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said: “We are delighted to have launched our newly enhanced Travel Agency Portal to further support and engage with our travel trade partners. At flydubai, investing in the feedback of travel trade partners and using that to innovate our digital platforms has always been important to ensure the best possible user experience. We are grateful for the continued support of our travel trade partners.”

Travelport announced several new supplier connections are delivering more content to travel retailers on Travelport+. Travelport’s new and expanded agreements with Booking.com and Hertz will now bring more options for accommodation rates and car rentals to retailers using Travelport+, and Travelport-connected agencies will also gain access to more options from Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group NDC content at the end of 2022. “This is the fourth chapter in our delivery of Travelport+, where we’re giving agents access to more supplier options and fueling their ability to sell more air, hotel, and car offers as we broaden and expand our content catalog,” said Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer at Travelport. “This update also helps our supplier partners reach even more of the right customers, with the ability to tailor products to drive sales through the indirect retail channel. As with everything we build, with the end traveler in mind, more options mean a more relevant customer experience.” More Air Content As the demand for travel surges, Travelport is ensuring that travel retailers have more options readily available for their customers by providing even more content to help ensure everyone gets the best possible retailing experience. Air France-KLM NDC content is being introduced on Travelport+, and Travelport will also be starting the rollout of Lufthansa Group NDC content in 2022. Travelport is also adding three new airlines to the platform – Congo Airways, FlyGTA and US-Bangla Airlines, along with 11 new ancillaries, and four more airlines now offer Branded Fares. More Hotel Choices Travelport’s new partnership with Booking.com unlocks a new range of rates across 140,000 hotel properties accessible through the Travelport+ platform, and will grow to over one million properties in …

Sabre Corporation and Nirvana announced a new long-term, strategic partnership agreement to distribute Nirvana’s lodging content and offerings through Sabre’s marketplace. The new agreement will integrate Nirvana’s lodging content into Sabre’s Content Services for Lodging (CSL) allowing Nirvana to promote its content to hundreds of thousands of travel agents globally. Sabre agencies will be able to shop and book Nirvana’s lodging content and amenities of over 11,000 properties at a competitive net-rate. “Many of our agents have indicated that they prefer to shop and book lodging content inside the GDS, thus we are constantly focused on expanding our lodging offerings and adding more content to help them meet travelers’ needs,” said Traci Mercer, senior vice president, Lodging Ground and Sea products, Sabre. “We are pleased that Nirvana will join our CSL offerings, adding more regional lodging options for customers in the Middle East. This enables travel buyers find the right lodging and amenities at the right price to craft the personalized travel offerings that travelers seek.” Nirvana is a leading lodging content aggregator based out of the United Arab Emirates that aims to provide variety of traditional and non-traditional lodging options including serviced apartments and rentals that are gaining popularity for both corporate and leisure travelers. “It is our vision to extend our operations, expand our reach and provide lodging content to online and offline travel buyers around the world.,” said Alaa Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Nirvana Holding. “Working with Sabre will help us put our content in front of travel buyers beyond the scope of our existing distribution structure, globally. We are delighted to partner with Sabre and benefit from its robust and scalable solutions and extensive …

Thynk announced its partnership with Saudi Arabia-based Dur Hospitality, a leading Saudi hospitality company recognized for its extensive record in managing, developing, and operating a broad portfolio of hotels and residential compounds across the Kingdom, at the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai. Developed by hoteliers for hoteliers and powered by Salesforce®, the world’s largest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Thynk.Cloud is designed to simplify and automate sales, operations, decision making, and data management for hotels of any size. The partnership will enable the sales organization at Dur Hospitality to further enhance the way they manage their B2B business relationships and maximize their sales productivity and efficiency. Pascal Petit, Co-founder & CEO at Thynk.Cloud, said: “We are excited to be working with Dur Hospitality, a company at the forefront of our industry when it comes to modern hospitality, agility and innovation. Together, our goal is to deliver a smart, modern system that not just streamlines processes and drives efficiency but enables hotel teams to deliver a unique guest experience, whether that’s in one of the Group’s branded hotels or in an independently managed property.” Commenting on the announcement, President of Hotel Operations at Dur Hospitality, Hassan Ahdab, said: “Our collaboration with Thynk provides an immense opportunity to interconnect our processes further and accelerate enhanced customer experiences. Thynk’s innovative digital ecosystem will drive personalization across our properties, amplifying our customer-centric approach and empowering our team members to make data-driven decisions in real-time while communicating with ”one voice”. Together, we will take customer-focused service to the next level”. “We have a shared vision to make hospitality an attractive and rewarding career for the next generation of hoteliers. We are committed to providing hotel …

On World Tourism Day, Google is launching two free tools to help the travel industry in the Middle East and North Africa identify timely travel demand and make better-informed decisions. The tools are launched under the ‘Travel Insights with Google’ website which includes two new tools available in both English and in Arabic; Destination Insights and Hotel Insights. According to Google Trends, people in Saudi Arabia searched for many countries in the past 8 months including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Thailand the UAE and the UK (London in particular). Additionally, searches from Saudi Arabia for “booking tickets” this year have increased 153% compared to previous year. In the UAE, according to Google Trends, people searched for local entertainment destinations in the past 8 months including the Dubai Fountain and Dubai Butterfly Garden, as well as hotels located locally in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, searches from UAE for “ticket prices” this year have increased 122% compared to previous year. These and similar insights can be helpful for businesses to connect with people searching to travel and plan their campaigns. By leveraging the tools, businesses in the travel and tourism industry can discover insights to reach global travelers, whether they are departing or arriving in MENA, at every stage of their journey, from dreaming about their next travel destination, to booking flights and hotels. Destination Insights The Destination Insights tool will give travel businesses, governments and tourism boards a clear picture of the top sources of demand for a destination, and the destinations within their countries that travelers are most interested in visiting. It also allows businesses to explore how tourism demand is changing, compared to previous months’ or years’ demand and adjust marketing …

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA), the Kingdom’s national flag carrier, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and the Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) to utilize Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (D&AI) solutions and cement the Kingdom’s global leadership in the field. The signing took place in the Global AI Summit, which was held at King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh from 13 – 15 September under the patronage of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chairman of SDAIA. Under the terms of the MoU, the three parties will establish a joint framework for utilizing the latest AI and emerging technologies to enhance customer experiences. In addition to exploring ways to collaborate on developing and deploying AI applications. The three parties have agreed to utilize advanced technology and natural language processing across SAUDIA’s customer care and digital channels. Dr. Majid Altuwaijri, Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), signed the MoU on behalf of SDAIA, while Eng. Ayman AlRashed, CEO of SCAI, and Dr. Khaled Alhazmi, SAUDIA’s Vice President of Operations and IT Support, signed for their respective companies. “We at SAUDIA are delighted to be joining forces with SDAIA and SCAI on developing and deploying advanced, sophisticated digital products,” said Dr. Alhazmi. “Throughout our digital channels, our never-ending quest to enhance our guests’ experiences has always been digital-first, and we will be working with emerging technologies, AI, and the Internet of Things to take the way we communicate with them to the next level.” Eng. AlRashed, CEO of SCAI, expressed his enthusiasm to be working with the Kingdom’s national flag carrier to enhance its customer …

Prism Digital, a leading digital marketing agency in the UAE has launched an AI-Driven WhatsApp for business Chatbot Service for the Hotel Industry in the Middle East and North Africa. With over 2.2 billion users globally, WhatsApp is the most used app for communicating and for building personal & business conversations. The WhatsApp for business chatbot can reinvent the way a hotel communicates with its customers and addresses their queries. WhatsAppotel Chatbot offers hotels many advantages, including the ability to engage with guests and respond to their inquiries intelligently and with full automation which is available 24X 7. The WhatsApp chatbot can be programmed to communicate in over 50 languages and hence can connect the hotel with potential Guests and visitors in their local language. This feature will empower the hospitality industry to communicate with potential guests and visitors from all over the world. Since you can book directly from WhatsApp it will encourage more direct bookings and reduce the dependence on OTAs, leading to improved sales and Direct Booking and revenue. It also Improves the client Experience. Guests can receive virtual booking assistance from the WhatsAppotel Chatbot at every stage of the booking process. Starting with giving them all essential facts about the kinds of rooms that are available, the cost per night, any complimentary services, and whether or not rooms are still available at the hotel for the dates the guest has chosen, the hotel can also share video, location maps, Discount coupons and links to the hotel website to book with a Call to action. This is revolutionary for the hospitality industry where customer experience is paramount to success. Hotels can leverage greatly from robust booking capabilities …