Category Archives: Technology

Travelport has announced the signing of a multiyear agreement with Qantas Airways that includes distribution of the Australian national carrier’s content and integration into Qantas’ recently announced NDC platform, the Qantas Distribution Platform (QDP). Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising solution has been deployed, giving over 65,000 of Travelport-connected travel agencies globally access to images of cabins and meals. These agents will also be able to book ancillaries such as extra legroom seating. Stephen Shurrock, Chief Commercial Officer, Travelport commented, “This agreement is testament to Qantas’ commendable forward-looking vision. Whether it’s the deployment of Rich Content and Branding or our new NDC capabilities, Travelport is uniquely equipped to support Qantas in optimizing content distribution globally.” Travelport is the first operator of a global distribution system to be granted the highest certification by IATA for its New Distribution Capability (NDC) airline distribution technology. With this, Travelport is well-positioned to support the QDP, improving the flexibility of content distribution, as the airline becomes one of the first to deploy NDC content later this year. It is the only such company to be cited by Qantas as an early adopter.

A recent report on ‘Middle East Consumer Travel Report 2018’ co-sponsored by Amadeus, explored an overview of the travel industry in Saudi Arabia and the latest highlights entailing consumer activities and mobile trends in the Middle East. Travellers from Riyadh showed an increase in mobile bookings in the Kingdom with 32%, followed by Jeddah with 31%. More than 40% of travellers in the region organise their trips online, 33% travellers today “actively search” for discounts online during the shopping process and 57% of travellers in the region book their flight fares only a week prior to their travel dates. The report acknowledges that the Middle East travel market is incredibly diverse when it comes to travel patterns. While value is a key driver in travel decisions, more people admit to being more influenced by friends, family and colleagues (53%) than by search engines and review sites (47%) or actual travel agents (31%). Eng. Nashat Bukhari, General Manager, Amadeus Saudi Arabia said, “We are pleased with the significant rise in the consumer’s online travel trend in the region and as the industry continues to evolve, we will continue the deliver the latest cutting-edge technology dedicate to alter the shape of the travel industry in the region.”  

Amadeus has announced the renewal of its partnership with Khimji’s House of Travel, a leading travel agency in Oman. The agency will be able to leverage Amadeus’ flagship products to deliver a superior level of service experience to their customers, making their journeys seamless during the whole trip process. Amadeus will provide Khimji’s House of Travel with solutions such as Amadeus Fare Optimiser, enabling travel agents to discover the best flight fares; Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller to manage corporate travellers, reduce business travel costs, increase policy compliance, and streamline the travel management processes; Amadeus e-Power to drive its online aspirations and provide rich contents 24*7 to customers; and Amadeus Travel Alerts Notifier, which keeps travellers informed about their booking up to their arrival back home, and more. Cashio Vettom, General Manager, Khimji’s House of Travel, said, “With this partnership, we are expanding our core capabilities to provide the best experience to our customers by using automated systems and programmes that increase our own efficiencies. We’re looking forward to sharing the benefits of this partnership with consumers across the Sultanate.” According a recent report revealed by the Colliers International, Oman’s tourism industry is expected to grow by 13 per cent between 2018 and 2021.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fliggy, the online travel service platform of Alibaba Group. Aimed to boost the number of Chinese tourists visiting Dubai, the MoU was signed by Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) and Jerry Hu, VP, Fliggy and Alibaba Group, as part of a broader long-term alliance discussion at the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou in China. The MoU entails among other aspects, collaboration between the partners to deliver an enhanced travel experience for Chinese visitors to the emirate by providing easy access to Dubai’s travel products and information, initiating a payment scheme, etc. In addition, Dubai Tourism would continuously maintain and update the ‘Dubai Destination Mall’ page on Fliggy, providing a comprehensive overview of the city’s tourism proposition to the broad customer base that Fliggy delivers. As a major online travel platform in China, Fliggy is a strategic travel partner for Dubai Tourism within China, allowing Dubai’s entire travel and tourism ecosystem to set up and operate their own ‘shop’ on the Fliggy virtual marketplace. Additionally, being extremely popular amongst the younger generation of Chinese tourists, Fliggy is an even more relevant partner for Dubai as there is a clear priority to build a strong base within this segment as potential visitors to the city.

Travelport has secured a new long-term technology partnership with Rehlat.com, which includes use of the company’s cutting-edge data analytics tool, Travelport Competitor Insights. The agreement will make Rehlat.com the first travel agency in the Middle East to benefit from the product. Rehlat.com will use Travelport Competitor Insights to benchmark booking performance against the market and its peers. The company will also use the tool to understand current and upcoming travel trends, identify behavioral changes, and explore how these vary across geographies. In addition, under the new agreement, Rehlat.com will continue to utilise Travelport’s open platform and Universal API technology to ensure it has access to the broadest and most current inventory of high-quality travel content and maintains its ability to deliver ‘on demand’ dynamic pricing and micro-segmentation of offers based on individual needs. With over 250 airlines signed up to use Travelport’s unique merchandising technology, the new agreement will also see Rehlat.com benefit from being able to display, gain powerful information around, and sell branded fare families and ancillary products (such as paid seat assignments, baggage fees, priority boarding, etc.) from these airlines.

Travelport has announced a new multi-year technology and content agreement with Norwegian travel agency chain, G Travel. With 27 agencies in Norway, six agencies in Sweden and an additional 17 global agencies, G Travel is one of the most expansive travel companies in the Nordics. Aided by a tailor-made solution by Travelport, G Travel consultants will gain access to intelligent, fast and accurate search of high-quality content from over 400 airlines, 650,000 hotel properties, and 35,000 car rental locations. With over 250 airlines signed up to use Travelport’s unique merchandising technology, the company will also benefit from being able to display, gain insights from and sell branded fare families and ancillary products (such as paid seat assignments, baggage fees, priority boarding, etc.) from these airlines. In addition, as part of the agreement, G Travel will use Travelport Business Insights, a cutting-edge data analytics tool that provides near real-time access to actionable insights from a vast range of data sources to help it optimize supplier contracts, enhance customer service and improve operational efficiencies. As the only global distribution system (GDS) provider to be certified by IATA as a “Level 3” Aggregator under its New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative, Travelport will soon benefit the company further by creating NDC connections with airlines as they become available.

Travelport has announced a trio of new agreements with travel agencies in the UK, the Middle East, and Singapore to deploy Trip Assist, Travelport’s mobile app for agencies. The new agreements come after the successful launch of Trip Assist in the Middle East in April 2018 and will give the customers of UK-based Omega Travel Limited, the United Arab Emirates-based Cozmo Travel, and Singapore-based Pegasus Travel a personalized service at their fingertips wherever they are on their journey. Trip Assist provides agencies with a fully branded mobile engagement solution that enables them to support, engage and connect with their travellers at every stage of their journey. Incorporating smart itinerary management capabilities and the ability to create agency defined messages; Trip Assist empowers agencies to build stronger relationships with travellers. For travellers, Trip Assist is a personal digital travel concierge service that provides day of travel assistance, real-time trip alerts and click to call agent support. Niklas Andreen, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Global Hospitality and Digital at Travelport said, “Mobile done right, allows agents to move from passive itinerary management to being a true proactive partner of the travellers throughout their journey. Travelport is proud to be working with such pioneering travel agencies as Omega Travel, Cozmo Travel and Pegasus Travel Management on redefining the role of the travel agency through mobile engagement.”

Innovative Hyperloop connections could reduce travel times between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) by around 34 minutes in future, according to experts who spoke during a panel discusion on Arabian Travel Market’s Global Stage. Providing a lightening-speed Hyperloop transit system would allow airport passengers to travel between both airports in as little as six to seven minutes – a shorter transit time than travelling between terminals at Dubai International Airport. The future of Hyperloop and travel infrastructure in the UAE and wider GCC was discussed at Arabian Travel Market, at Dubai World Trade Centre, during a seminar session entitled ‘Future Travel Experiences’. Virgin Hyperloop One, a futuristic transportation concept through which pods, propelled by magnets and solar, will move passengers and cargo at speeds of 1,200kph, is the most prominent tourism infrastructure development in the UAE at present. Backed by Dubai-based DP World, Hyperloop One has the potential to transport approximately 3,400 people an hour, 128,000 people a day and 24 million people a year. In November 2016, Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) announced plans to evaluate a hyperloop connection between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which could reduce travel times between the two emirates by 78 minutes.

At the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, Wego revealed the ‘MENA Traveller Destination Leaderboards’ that showcases the relative popularity of global destinations amongst travellers based in the MENA region. As the largest online travel marketplace across the MENA region, Wego users shop for tens of millions of trips each quarter and it’s this flight and hotel search data that has been analysed to determine the destination rankings. The leaderboard announced today is for Q1 2018 and subsequent updates will be released shortly after the close of each quarter. Egypt retains its top ranking in Q1 2018 as the most popular destination for travellers, from across the MENA region. “MENA travellers are lured by the culture, scenic attractions, and incredible food that can be experienced in Egypt”, said Mamoun Hmedan, Managing Director – MENA and India, Wego. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia retains its second ranking and received a steady mix of business, expatriate and religious travel. India at the third position and Turkey at the fourth slot stepped up one rung each in the destination leaderboard for Q1 2018 vs Q1 2017, while UAE fell from the third to the fifth position. Despite the overall drop, Dubai remains a popular destination for MENA travellers. The biggest gainer in Q1 2018 was Oman which jumped a massive 9 places to #15, an improvement likely related to the opening of a new airport in Muscat and a host of new hotels and other facilities opening in the Sultanate.

Al Kasir Group launched three Crypto assets backed by certified diamonds. Al Kasir Jewellery and Al Kasir portal, a joint venture under the private office of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Obaid Al Maktoum, announced the launch of the innovative diamond trading model using the blockchain technology for the first time in the world. Speaking at a press conference in Dubai, Dr Lakhanpal said, “Cryptocurrencies with their underlying Blockchain technology are increasingly popular amongst individuals, financial institutions and governments, however many of them view cryptocurrencies as objects of radical speculation and high volatility. Since they are subject to potentially huge price corrections, most cryptocurrencies are practivally a poor store of value and means of barter-like exchange. This gives rise to a need for a more secure alternative.For the first time ever, the world is about to experience a set of three crypto-assets backed by IGI certified real diamonds. Being backed by a real-world asset, these three crypto-assets, Al Mas, Al Haqeek and Al Falah are better capable to store and translate value due to a base measure or gauge around which their value revolves,” he added. “This is also the first time that crypto assets will be available for purchase across the counter as the company aims to open 1000 stores across the world for this in all major markets including South-East Asia, Europe, the UK and the Gulf region,” Dr Lakhanpal further added.