Category Archives: Technology

Travelport introduced its enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs that will provide next-generation retailing and exchange capabilities to travel retailers worldwide. As part of Travelport’s investment in its next-generation platform, Travelport+, the new APIs are being rolled out globally and will offer retailers a gateway to better content choices, the tools to tailor their retailing experience, and the power to greatly improve the efficiency of their operations. “With our new APIs, we’ve expanded our modern retailing toolkit so that agencies upgrading to Travelport+ can more easily personalize the retailing experience they provide to their customers,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “The improvements we’ve made with these enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs will give travel retailers around the world simplified access to dynamic retail-ready content, from multiple sources, across all of their points of sale. And to ensure agencies can effectively operate as modern digital retailers, our APIs will also deliver the tools to optimize storefronts, better engage customers and manage trips more efficiently.” The modern, lightweight and highly functional APIs, which can also be used in conjunction with Travelport’s SOAP / XML APIs, drive up to 68% faster average transactions and a faster shopping and booking experience for travelers. The JSON API also enables greater flexibility and speed for developers, fostering quick, seamless connections and an optimized experience for both developers and travel retailers. Travelport’s new APIs include all of the details needed for public, private and tour operator specific air content and can be deeply enriched with Travelport’s branded fares. Additional API capabilities include streamed, cached content, speeding up the delivery of marketplace pricing and giving retailers the ability to inspire customers with highly relevant travel offers. …

eDreams ODIGEO expands its leading flight content platform through strategic technology agreement with Travelport – With this deal, Europe’s largest online travel company and the second largest flight retailer in the world signs a strategic agreement with Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail – Using the next-generation Travelport+ platform, eDreams ODIGEO will offer customers more choice in airline routes, including unique carrier content and unique ancillary services – The agreement is part of eDreams ODIGEO’s business strategy to further strengthen its leading offering in a post-COVID world Barcelona. The platform’s retailing and merchandising capabilities will offer eDreams ODIGEO customers more flexibility and choice in their bookings, allowing them to create tailored routes which meet their exacting requirements. The customer-centric approach is also poised to benefit the business’ airline partners. The agreement sees two travel-tech heavy weights join forces to drive innovation across the industry. eDreams ODIGEO is a technology-led business with one of the largest development teams in the European travel industry. The business is transforming the online travel booking experience with innovative products, it also boasts industry-leading capabilities in machine-based learning. Today, eDreams ODIGEO leverages its leading Artificial Intelligence capabilities to generate over 45 billion daily predictions to anticipate customer needs and travel demand. Travelport+, in turn, represents a multi-year investment by Travelport to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation. The combination of these leading technology capabilities will result in unparalleled benefits for travellers and increased competitiveness for both businesses. Javier Bellido, Air Content Strategies Director at eDreams ODIGEO said, “The addition of Travelport’s leading travel retail system into our flight content platform is yet another example of how the business is …

Sojern announced an extension of their partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) to drive further traveller demand into the Emirate using its Co-Op Marketing Programme. Following a successful pilot of the joint marketing programme, which has reached more than 3 million people so far, Abu Dhabi hotels have been able to increase direct bookings through a highly targeted, digital display and social media advertising campaign. The hospitality industry has been heavily impacted by the pandemic but DCT Abu Dhabi has worked closely with the UAE government to launch a series of stimulus initiatives to support the recovery of the tourism industry. “We were looking for ways to support the hospitality industry and navigate the economic challenges presented by the pandemic, and the partnership with Sojern helps us do just that, by supporting hotels in Abu Dhabi to drive direct bookings and improve room profitability,” said HE Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Tourism and Marketing at DCT Abu Dhabi. “DCT Abu Dhabi is committed to collaborative efforts between the private and public sectors within the local tourism industry to continuously support and drive tourism growth to the capital. Our efforts are aligned with the overall strategic objectives and vision — to support the evolution of Abu Dhabi into a world-class destination, while also reinforcing the capital’s position as a forward-thinking tourism destination.” Sojern’s Co-Op Marketing Programme is designed to help Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and their partners increase the effectiveness of their marketing initiatives through collaboration, and drive revenue for the travel industry, at scale. “Hotels in Abu Dhabi were looking to improve their direct booking volumes and reduce commission from …

Travelport announced a strategic, long-term collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to use advanced cloud technology to accelerate the digital transformation of retailing in the travel industry. The collaboration, which unites globally renowned expertise in travel technology, cloud technology, and hyper-personalized retailing, will focus on optimizing Travelport’s recently launched next-generation platform, Travelport+. It will also drive innovation in travel merchandising with the launch of a new accelerator program that will incorporate talent from the tech startup community. “The travel industry has struggled to keep up with the pace of change in digital retail,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “This landmark collaboration is specifically designed to address just that. AWS’s retail heritage makes them uniquely qualified to optimize digital retail platforms, simplify complex environments, and enable game-changing innovation in the travel retailing space. With AWS as our preferred cloud partner, we are going to create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing.” “Travelport is using the flexibility, scalability, and reliability of the world’s leading cloud to provide the speed and insights needed to put the customer first,” said Adam Selipsky, Incoming CEO of Amazon Web Services, Inc. “By leveraging the broadest and deepest set of cloud capabilities and AWS’s proven global infrastructure, Travelport can enhance the performance of its platform and continue to develop new ways to simplify the travel booking experience. With people around the world beginning to return to travel, we look forward to working with Travelport to help the travel industry continue to innovate.”

VFS Global has announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with the Jazan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to provide end-to-end visa and passport concierge services. Moving forward, the Chamber’s members will benefit from the availability of these services on its premises, providing ease, convenience and ensuring they do not have to visit a Visa Application Centre. Ahmad M. Abo Hadi, Chairman of Jazan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mohammed Shahid Alam, Consul General of India in Jeddah inaugurated the office on 8 June 2021 in the presence of Mr Sumanth Kapoor, Regional Head – KSA, Bahrain and Oman, VFS Global. During the inauguration ceremony, Ahmad M. Abo Hadi, Chairman of Jazan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “We are happy that we can rely on VFS Global to ensure our members receive safe and secure passport and visa services they need all within the premises.” “The opening of VFS Global concierge at Jazan Chamber of Commerce is a momentous step and would go a long way in delivering fast and efficient consular services at the doorsteps of our India nationals especially during the period of pandemic. “said Mohammed Shahid Alam, Consul General of India. “This announcement represents our latest contribution towards the Kingdom’s sustainability agenda, and the presence of VFS Global’s concierge service in the Jazan Chamber will enable its members to further concentrate their efforts towards economic and social development contributions. We are delighted to be working alongside the Chambers and look forward to assisting its members with the services we provide,” added Sumanth Kapoor, Regional Head – KSA & Bahrain, VFS Global.

ITL World has renewed signed a new multi-year agreement with Sabre Corporation, the leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry. The expanded, long-term agreement will see ITL World work with Sabre to deploy the latest technology and best solutions to drive growth, boost revenue and transform its business during the anticipated recovery period and beyond. ITL World will continue to use Sabre’s next-generation travel agency desktop, Sabre Red 360, to deliver an intelligent and consultative service to travellers, create compelling shopping experiences for customers and provide an enhanced level of expertise to help people travel again. “Travellers have developed new expectations throughout this crisis and are seeking assurances, flexibility and real-time communications from travel providers. I therefore believe that the road towards recovery relies heavily on technology,” said Dr. Siddeek Ahmed, Chairman & Managing Director, ITL World.  “Sabre has the technology and development to support our strategy and enable us to cater to the new expectations of today’s traveller. We are looking at intelligent solutions such AI and NDC that will help us meet the demands of the new-age, technology savvy traveller by providing a seamless, interactive and personalized experience.” “We are delighted to be working with a technology- driven customer like ITL World, whichthat recogniszes the role that advanced technology can play in its success,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “By offering customers a highly intelligent and tailored shopping experience, ITL World will be able to tap into recovery growth and win back the trust of travellers. I therefore believe that Sabre’s increased innovation and investment into advanced technological development will position agencies like ITL World for long-term success well …

Travelport announced a multi-year agreement with Business Travel Partners, through e-Business Travel, one of the largest consortiums of independent IATA travel agencies in the Netherlands. The win will see Business Travel Partners members migrate to Travelport+, Travelport’s newly-launched next-generation platform that creates a simplified, capability-rich, marketplace for travel retailing. The coalition of 11 specialist travel agencies which form Business Travel Partners has wide-ranging expertise in business, marine travel and individual travelers. Travelport is providing tailored solutions for each member, catered to their individual needs and, crucially, integrated into various existing third-party software already in use. These solutions will all be built on the Travelport+ platform, which will see the agencies benefiting from a broad range of multi-source travel content, an ever-broadening array of new merchandising capabilities designed to improve the traveler experience while maximizing revenue and customer loyalty, and enhanced value generation. To date, more than half of the Business Travel Partners agencies have migrated or are in the final stages of migrating to Travelport+, with other consortium members set to migrate in the coming months. “We found Travelport offered the best combination of advanced and agile solutions, along with dedicated consultancy and support that really made a difference to a consortium with diverse needs,” said Cees Bas, Chairman of Business Travel Partners and CEO of e-Business Travel. “Major technology upgrades are seldom easy, but Travelport’s implementation process was a remarkably seamless transition, with their team effectively acting as an extension of our own.” Alistair Rodger, Group Vice President of Agency Sales for Europe at Travelport said, “Being able to meet the needs of such a diverse collection of agencies really showcases the strength of the Travelport+ platform, as well …

Seera Group has extended its long-standing partnership with Amadeus to adopt NDC. As the Middle East’s leading provider of travel and tourism services, Seera Group will join Amadeus’ NDC [X] program and implement the NDC-enabled Travel API solution to distribute richer airline products to its customers. It will allow the selling of new fares and services to customers that are only available via NDC. Customers are at the core of everything the Seera Group does, and integrating NDC efficiently within its workflow, online and offline, will help the group’s travel brands differentiate its offers with more relevant options, better fares and availability, as well as post-booking servicing capabilities. Speaking about the extension, Tarique Khatri, EVP at Seera Group, said, “Amadeus has been a long-term technology partner of Seera. We have been working together successfully to drive innovation in the region and provide our customers access to new, dynamic airline content that includes more tailored services. Amadeus has always been at the forefront of cutting-edge technology for our industry, and working together to implement NDC was a natural extension of this partnership. We are confident that NDC will help us personalize our offer, open up new opportunities to upsell, and really elevate our customer experience.” Bernhard Steffens, Senior Vice President of Business Travel Agencies in Europe, Middle East and Africa said, “For a brand like Seera Group that focuses on customer centricity, the adoption of NDC makes perfect sense. It will help add tremendous value to its travelers, and cement Seera’s place at the forefront of travel innovation in the Middle East. With NDC taking off in the industry, Seera Group understood it was the opportune time to partner with us …

The latest study, commissioned by Amadeus and delivered by Censuswide, provides encouraging news for the industry, with 51% of travellers from the UAE keen to book international travel within six weeks of restrictions lifting. The study also demonstrates the importance of understanding traveller concerns around privacy, ease of use and security. As governments and the travel industry explore the benefits of digital health passports, the message from travellers is clear: digital health passports can be a vital tool in opening up travel. An Amadeus commissioned study has found that that just over 9 in 10 (91%) travellers surveyed globally would be comfortable using a digital health passport for future trips. This encouraging research provides an incentive to accelerate plans for digital health passports that will help to address traveller concerns. The study provided further good news for the industry as just over half of UAE travellers (51%) said they would book international travel within six weeks of restrictions lifting, demonstrating that the appetite to travel remains high. The survey of 9,055 travellers in France, Spain, Germany, India, UAE, Russia, Singapore, UK and US also contained a note of caution for the industry with over 9 in 10 (93%) travellers having some concerns around storing their health data for travel. The survey also explored what solutions might alleviate concerns around digital health data and travel in the future and results showed: Almost 3 in 5 (58%) of UAE travellers would be comfortable using a digital passport if it was accepted by most countries and was regulated by international standards, while 47% would be comfortable if only COVID-19-specific data was included in any health passport.  Just under 8 in 10 (78%) would …

Travelport launched its next-generation platform, Travelport+. It is the centerpiece of Travelport’s new global strategy and is designed to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation.  Travelport+ is an extensive, next-generation platform that creates a simplified, capability-rich, marketplace for travel retailing. As travel distribution has evolved, retrofitting new types of distribution into existing platforms has led to increased complexity across the industry, slowing progress. Travelport+ is a true multi-source platform offering more dynamic, differentiated, retail-ready content, delivering better choices for retailers and consumers, in a faster, frictionless way. “It’s a monumental moment in our history and in the development of our industry”, said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “Travel hasn’t kept up with the evolution of modern digital retail and today, the buying and selling of travel is more complex than it needs to be. As Travelport is the only dedicated, global, travel distribution platform, we have made a multi-year investment to accelerate industry innovation in travel retailing. Bringing together the best of Travelport’s existing capabilities and tools and driving innovation to deliver the unmet needs of our industry, Travelport+ truly changes the game in the speed of delivery of modern travel retail and offers a fundamental upgrade to travel technology.”