Category Archives: Technology

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.  

Travelport has announced a new long-term technology partnership via its distributor in Oman, with Eihab Travels. Eihab Travels will use Travelport’s industry leading point of sale solution, Travelport Smartpoint, to provide corporate as well as leisure travel services to major multinational corporations, prominent Middle East firms and individuals. Aided by Travelport’s support, the company’s consultants will benefit from 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 is 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. Having recently become the first global distribution system (GDS) to be certified by IATA as a “Level 3” Aggregator under its New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative, Travelport will soon further benefit the company by creating NDC connections with airlines as they become available.

Travelport and Priceline.com have signed a long-term renewal agreement for Travelport to continue providing pricing, booking and ticketing technology and content to Priceline. The renewal comes approximately 20 years after the two companies signed their first agreement for Priceline to process reservations through Travelport’s GDS. Throughout the past two decades, Travelport and Priceline have worked together to make the process of buying and selling travel easier for customers seeking great travel deals. “Travelport has proven to be a valued partner over the last 20 years in helping Priceline customers find and book the best deals,” said Brigit Zimmerman, Senior Vice President of Flight, Hotel and Packages, Priceline.com. Jason Clarke, Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Agency Commerce, Travelport, added, “We are committed to supporting Priceline with our industry-leading search and pricing capabilities, as well as offering Priceline new technologies that offer faster connections, greater content and more relevant choices.”  

Omeir Travel Agency has extended its partnership with Amadeus Gulf to expand the agency’s integrated travel services and digital solutions offering for its customers. Under the three-year agreement, Omeir Travel will leverage cutting-edge travel technology solutions aimed at maintaining the agency’s competitive edge. This includes driving automation across the agency’s operations and optimising intelligence tools in order to improve product customisation and enhance customer experience. The latest agreement will also see Omeir Travel diversify its capabilities in online and retail shops. Abdulla Bin Omeir, CEO, Omeir Travel Agency said, “In our efforts to deliver exceptional customer experience, we have embarked on a journey of digital transformation for our business. With Amadeus as our technology provider, we are confident that we can stay agile and adapt to the fast-changing needs of our customers.” According to Graham Nichols, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, “We are delighted to renew our long association with Omeir Travel as they embark on this exciting digital project. We will bring our vast worldwide on-line experience and technology to support them fully throughout their transformation. This new agreement demonstrates the confidence that they have in our technology, service and support.”

Travelport and Air France-KLM have signed an agreement for the distribution of content through Travelport’s platform. Air France-KLM and HOP! content on Travelport’s platform will include Travelport’s rich content, branded fares, fare families and multiple ancillaries. Travelport customers will continue to benefit from Travelport’s tools beyond booking capability that enable workflow automation, change management processes, multiple content integration, robotics for fulfilment and other vital services. This agreement also enables customers selected by Air France HOP! and KLM to access a private channel via Travelport through which they will receive content without the additional distribution surcharge levied by Air France-KLM starting April 1, 2018. Derek Sharp, Senior Vice President and Managing Director – Air Commerce, Travelport, says, “This agreement is an extension of a long-term relationship which has delivered greater choice to Air France KLM’s customers. We look forward to a continuing productive partnership as we deploy new technology with the airline.” Emmanuelle Gailland, Vice President – Distribution, Air France-KLM, says, “Travelport has been a great partner throughout our private channel engagement as a transition towards NDC. Both Air France KLM and Travelport will work together to bring NDC content of new fares, products, services and rich media in the marketplace.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has awarded New Distribution Capability (NDC) Level 3 certification to zeeyarah.com, managed by Superior Tracks Travel and Tourism Agency based in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Zeeyarah.com becomes the first online travel agency and B2B reseller in the MENA region to receive the highest level of IATA NDC certification on PADIS Publication 16.2 Schema. Zeeyarah announced the official launching of  zeeyarah.com in KSA and zeeyarah.ae in United Arab Emirates market with online payment facilities including. As part of NDC certification, Zeeyarah had commenced direct connection with major Middle Eastern and European carriers. Dr Abdulaziz Khayat, Assistant Vice President – Sales Strategies, Saudi Arabian Airlines said, “In keeping up with the new advancements in the airlines reservation technologies, Saudia is proud to announce the successful completion of its NDC pilot project. We thank our partners at Amadeus, TPconnects and zeeyarah.com for their excellent work and dedication throughout the implementation of this project.” Mohammed Gaus, CEO and Founder, Zeeyarah, commented, “This is great achievement for us to start-up in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because generally such projects commences outside Kingdom and then try to penetrate into the country but we have done the opposite.”

Amadeus has announced the creation of a dedicated programme to drive the industrialisation of New Distribution Capability (NDC) and ensure its success for all travel players. Created by IATA, NDC is an XML-based data transmission standard that holds huge promise for the travel industry, and will enable travel companies – from airlines to travel agencies – to evolve travel distribution and merchandising. The NDC-X programme will bring together experts from across Amadeus’ business to focus on practical use cases of the standard; adopting a test and learn approach to deliver improved capabilities for the industry. Gianni Pisanello, who has held a variety of leadership roles within Amadeus’ airlines business, will lead the new NDC-X programme. The aim is to create better journeys for travellers through the best use of technology, and this transversal program will work with the travel seller and airlines to deliver just that. In terms of commercial possibilities, a recent study by Phocuswright revealed that total gross bookings in the Middle East for air, hotel, car and tour services totaled $74 billion last year, with an estimated annual growth rate of eight per cent between now and 2020.

Rehlat, an online travel agency, has renewed a long-term agreement with Sabre Corporation to continue using its technology to power its online platform, Rehlat.com. For the past two years, Rehlat has been using Sabre’s technology and travel management services to help increase its online conversion performance, grow revenue, improve customer satisfaction levels and personalise its services offered to customers. “We have witnessed strong double-digit growth since we launched in 2015,” said Bader Al Bader, President and Founder, Rehlat. “Sabre’s global expertise in online travel, impressive dedication and cutting-edge technology have enabled us to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace and tap into the growth of the online travel industry. We have also used Sabre’s APIs to roll out new capabilities in mobile to meet the growing expectations of our tech-savvy travellers.” “Consumer behaviour is rapidly changing in the region, and this is fuelled by personal technology that is faster and more accessible,” said Raymond Vrijenhoek, Vice President, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “Online travel agencies have been quick to respond to this, using the latest web service and API technology to give travellers what they want – the right product at the right time and in the right context. Rehlat shares our passion and trust that technology can simplify the complexity of today’s travel.”