Category Archives: Technology

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.”

Epic Reality designed to help tourists & locals navigate the city of Dubai safely and in a time-efficient manner has officially launched from Modus Capital’s Venture Studio, and is now available for download on Apple iOS and Android devices. Conceptualized in the UAE, Epic Reality acts as a city guide that provides real-time updates on the city’s safe and risk zones, as well as critical information related to COVID-19 health precautions, including social distance practices, facial wear dress code policies, seating capacity, temperature checks, and the relative exposure risk based on indoor vs. outdoor activities etc. The score is compiled from the most up-to-date international data sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and run through a proprietary algorithm to produce a COVID-19 Risk Score.   Users can browse a listing of fun engaging activities, events, travel tours, sightseeing spots, restaurants, bars, cafés—and learn about each venue or activity’s health measures to ensure a safe travel experience during their stay in Dubai. Ahmad Daneshvar, Epic Reality Co-Founder, said, “We are extremely excited to be able to allow travellers to enjoy Dubai in a safe and risk-free environment by helping them stay well-informed of the city’s health & safety measures. We want to provide travellers—and locals alike—with essential information on how to get around Dubai during the pandemic when health and safety concerns are top of mind.” “The application has been developed with an intuitive design and user-friendly interface that promises to give users timely information and provide significant assistance during the pandemic,” added Daniel Ashtari, Co-Founder. “Epic Reality will enable tourists and locals to discover and book activities in a well-informed and safe manner,” said Kareem Elsirafy, Managing Partner at …

Sabre announced the introduction of its new airline storefront, an industry-first capability that makes it easier to comparison-shop increasingly complex airline offers in the indirect channel.  Beginning today, the new airline storefront capabilities are available via Sabre’s shopping APIs, which travel retailers can leverage to build a bespoke storefront and enhance their customers’ experience. Sabre expects to launch the new capability for travel agencies via Sabre Red 360 in the coming weeks. Powered by Sabre’s shopping APIs, new airline storefront provides digital “shelves” that organize the breadth and depth of an airline’s offering in a side-by-side display to help travelers shop with confidence and make better buying decisions to meet their personal needs. For airlines, the new airline storefront supports differentiation and more merchandising opportunities in the indirect channel, with flight search results displaying several product offerings for an individual flight. For travel buyers, it allows for efficient comparison shopping across several flight options and helps travelers choose the offer that is right for them. “Airlines have invested in differentiating their brand in a number of ways. While this creates greater choice for travelers, it also presents a challenge – it’s easy to understand the cost, but harder to understand what the experience will be,” said Wade Jones, chief product officer for Sabre Travel Solutions. “Sabre’s new airline storefront not only empowers airlines to effectively market their unique product in the indirect channel, but it also helps travel buyers communicate the total offer value.” “Our customers demand choice paired with convenience and simplicity – this is not always the case with today’s airline shopping experience. Consumers want to compare products and offers quickly and efficiently, just as they do in …

Kanoo Travel has extended its 25-year partnership with Sabre Corporation. A new multi-year agreement will see it using Sabre’s industry-leading technology and solutions to power operations, drive growth and transform the experience it offers travellers in a dynamic travel environment. Through partnering with Sabre, Kanoo Travel was able to develop its own customised platform, Kanoo Krystal, which provides the agency with unique content and corporate solutions that meet evolving traveller needs.  The new agreement will see Krystal combined with Sabre’s cutting-edge Sabre Red 360 platform, which leverages data-driven insights to offer travellers greater choice and highly personalised experiences.  This powerful combination will enable the agency to work faster and smarter and will help generate additional revenue opportunities. “Sabre’s technology has been critical in responding to constantly evolving market demands and traveller needs,” said Nabeel Kanoo, President of Kanoo Travel. “We expect that travel in our region will increase in a post-COVID-19 environment.  We need to be ready for this by equipping ourselves with intelligent technology that makes shopping and booking travel intuitive, personalised and flexible.  Partnering with Sabre will give us a competitive edge during what is a pivotal time for travel.” “To fuel recovery, agencies like Kanoo Travel need access to cutting-edge technology and content,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East.  “Kanoo is already a proven innovator in travel, delivering highly tailored experiences to its customers.  However, we expect that any recovery of travel in the Middle East will likely be very competitive, and travellers will want to be given the increased choice, control and flexibility. With its suite of intelligent technology, Sabre can help Kanoo react to real-time changes and deliver a highly consultative service …