Category Archives: Technology

According to Dubai tourism, Dubai will be the first city to embark on the journey of democratising travel through the use of emerging technologies as it adds an additional distribution channel for hotels in its first phase, as its recently announced 10X initiative. Launched at the World Government Summit by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai Government as one of the ‘Dubai 10X’ projects, Dubai Tourism (DTCM) is set to implement this ground-breaking programme within the next 24 months, enabling Dubai to enhance distribution of its tourism inventory through a future-proofed virtual B2B marketplace for the travel industry. Explaining the objective of 10X, Al Maktoum said, “Success of governments is determined by their ability and flexibility to re-invent themselves, and upgrade their services to cater to the evolving needs of the community.” Dubai Tourism aims to give global guests direct choice across the breadth and depth of the local tourism inventory within a highly safe, transparent and real-time environment. As the first mover in the facilitation of this type of technologically advanced, secure and scalable digital solution for the travel industry, it positions Dubai as a think-thank and innovation leader seeking to truly democratise travel.

Travelport has partnered with ACI Worldwide, a leading provider of electronic banking and payment solutions, to deliver an intelligent fraud control and settlement solution for its airline customers called Travelport Authorise Plus. It enhances Travelport’s existing card payment gateway by integrating with ACI’s award-winning ReD Shield platform. Through the integration, Travelport can provide its airline customers with the ability to seamlessly track ticketing purchase processes right through to the completion of a journey. Additional features include the dynamic fraud screening of card payments used to purchase air tickets via Travelport-connected agents, ability to prevent ticket issuance, and detailed online management reports of all transactions and status. ACI’s UP Payments Risk Management solution utilises advanced data analytics, adaptive machine learning and customer profiling techniques. Derek Sharp, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Air Commerce—Travelport, commented, “Our partnership with ACI Worldwide is in response to the growing need to provide our airline customers with highly sophisticated tools to prevent card fraud in our industry. The major advantage of combining Travelport Authorise Plus with ACI ReD Shield is that we have built a fully integrated solution, which applies fraud control management without the need for both our airline and agent customers to do any major development or change their workflow process of today.”

dnata has been awarded a licence to provide flight catering services to airlines departing Vancouver International Airport. This marks dnata Catering’s entry into Canada. With this licence, dnata will now commence planning, approvals, build and fit-out of a dedicated catering facility at Vancouver, at an investment of more than CAD $7 million dnata, commencing operations in Q4 2018. This will be dnata’s 64th catering location and 130th global air services location, with its recent opening of a new catering facility at Dublin Airport, Ireland. The facility will have an initial capacity of up to 8,000 meals a day. dnata expects to employ more than 150 staff once operating at that level. Robin Padgett, Divisional Senior Vice President—Catering, dnata, “Canada has always been an exciting opportunity for us as a caterer. To turn that opportunity into reality at Vancouver International Airport is particularly exciting, given the solid passenger growth and recognition the airport has received in recent years. We are proud of our ability to deliver globally authentic and diverse cuisine across the world, and we’re more than ready to bring that to airlines and their passengers departing Vancouver.”

Travelport had a record-breaking January for fare shopping, with unprecedented year-on-year (YoY) percentage increases in peak (one-day) shopping rate messages per second and in overall 24-hour message volumes. A 77 per cent YoY increase was recorded in peak shopping rate messages per second as compared to the highest similar peak day in January 2017. For total shopping message volumes received during a single 24-hour period, Travelport recorded a 79 per cent YoY increase compared to the highest such single-day volume in January 2017. Travelport recorded a 169% increase in peak shopping rate messages per second from the highest recorded day in January 2017 compared to the highest similar peak day in January 2016. For total shopping message volumes received during a single 24-hour period, Travelport saw a 161 per cent increase compared to the highest such single-day volume in January 2016. Travelport’s most recent numbers show that the company processed some 2.4 trillion shopping transactions during 2017 and prices six billion-plus unique itineraries every day.

Amadeus has entered into a partnership with Sharaf Travel for end-to-end automation throughout its business operations. Set to go live from April 2018, Amadeus will assist the travel company to focus its business on online success, using the latest Amadeus web services and mobile traveller products. All Amadeus solutions will be adopted across Sharaf Travel’s UAE and Oman operations. Jayaram, Managing Director, Sharaf Travel, said, “Automation will enhance our business offerings and help us to better serve our customers. Amadeus was a natural choice for this transformation for its strong portfolio of solutions that are ideal for our needs.” This partnership will enable the best-in-class offerings to Amadeus’ customers and streamlined services that will boost the company’s competitive edge. Using the latest generation of travel technology, Amadeus Web Services offer Sharaf Travel unparalleled connectivity to the entire range of Amadeus content all from a single point of access, supporting easily-customised travel booking applications. With Amadeus Mobile Traveller, Sharaf Travel will also be able to stay connected to its customers 24/7, providing them with a 360° travel experience wherever they might be in the world. Graham Nichols, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, said, “Our technology-driven solutions enable our customers to benefit from cutting-edge innovations that streamline travel agency processes.”

The Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) is set to launch ‘Abu Dhabi Culture’ app on February 27. The digital initiative will act as a one-stop reference point for all information relating to culture in Abu Dhabi  and will be available in three languages – Arabic, English and French. It will feature on iOS and Android and can be accessed online at abudhabiculture.ae. The initiative, planned to launch as part of UAE Innovation Month, will allow users to gain instant access to information on all aspects of cultural life and heritage in the emirate. ‘Abu Dhabi Culture’ will educate culture-seeking locals, expats and tourists on one level, at the same time as becoming a reference point for researchers and academics in search of more detailed information. “This product has been designed to maximise accessibility to Abu Dhabi’s rich cultural landscape,” said HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, DCT. “The Abu Dhabi Culture digital experience will be a truly connected hub, immersing users and inspiring them to experience our culture for themselves. The mobile app will provide a ‘360 degree experience’, a comprehensive interactive map, a personalised interface, user-generated stories as well as features which will allow travellers to plan their trip,” Ghobash said.

Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in the MENA region, announced their partnership with Gulf Air which will provide Wego users online access to the airline’s flight-related information and booking capabilities. “Our agreement with Gulf Air reinforces Wego’s leading position in the Middle East,” commented Dean Wicks, Chief Flights Officer, Wego. “Wego will distribute Gulf Air flights, pricing and schedule information across our extensive marketing channels, allowing travellers easy access to flights with an airline that is famous for its traditional Arabian hospitality and renowned for being family and business friendly,” Wicks continued. “Wego’s business is crucial to helping key industry providers extend into new markets in what’s become a fast paced and highly competitive business,” he added. As Gulf Air prepares to welcome 39 new Boeing and Airbus aircraft, greater network expansion is anticipated alongside significant product and service enhancements. In 2017, Wego introduced Progressive Web App (PWA) technology combined with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), to become the fastest loading mobile marketplace in the world.

Dadabhai Travel has renewed an exclusive agreement with Sabre Corporation to continue facilitating travel through its industry-leading platform. Dadabhai Travel has been using Sabre technology exclusively for more than ten years, which has helped expand its presence in the Middle East while delivering a superior service to its corporate customers. The travel management company now plans to broaden its offerings to customers across other markets in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. “Dadabhai has proven its position as a leading regional travel company,” said Roshan Mendis, Senior Vice President, EMEA and APAC, Sabre Travel Network. “By providing customers access to competitive travel products and services, it has successfully transformed from a Bahrain-based travel agency into a strong regional player. With Sabre’s substantial network in the region, we are best-placed to help the company scale and expand through the latest technology and consultancy. It’s an exciting collaboration and we look forward to a continuing partnership with Dadabhai to provide a seamless travel experience to customers across the continent.”  

Having achieved the milestone of 250 carriers, Travelport has now extended its leading position in airline merchandising by offering richer content to five times as many airlines as its nearest competitor. Travelport announced that over 250 airlines now benefit from its Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool which gives agencies and travel bookers a graphically rich experience when booking branded fares and ancillaries. Launched in 2014, Rich Content and Branding allows network airlines and low-cost carriers to differentiate themselves through ls and detailed descriptions of their products and services. Airlines benefiting from branded fares and ancillaries include IndiGo, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Iberia and low-cost airlines such as Mango Airlines, Aegean, Ryanair and Loganair. Major airlines currently or soon offering access to their branded fares through Rich Content and Branding include China Southern Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Norwegian, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Avianca. In addition, Etihad Airways and Jetstar are introducing no-bag fares on long-haul routes, a development fully supported by Travelport’s new tool.

Noor Bank has collaborated with UB QFPay, the joint venture between Dubai-based United Brands (UBPAY) and China-based QFPay, to bring a new and innovative mobile payment solution to the UAE. The solution, a first-of-its-kind in the region, will enable tourists as well as overseas visitors to make payments at retail outlets in the UAE using multiple international mobile wallets from various markets. As part of its collaboration, Noor Bank will handle all transaction settlements for the solution while UB QFPay will allow retail outlets within the UAE to accept secure payments from tourists who wish to pay from their preferred mobile wallets for their purchases. John Iossifidis, CEO, Noor Bank said, “I am proud of the collaborative efforts between UB QFPay and our Global Transaction Services (GTS) team to introduce a new payment solution in the market. The solution will allow overseas visitors to use international mobile wallets for the purchase of goods and services in UAE, for the first time. This partnership is well aligned to the strategic focus of the bank on delivering an enhanced customer experience through digital transformation.” Ahmed Alrafi, Managing Director, UB QFPay said, “Chinese tourists are a huge segment for retailers in the UAE, who have focused on attracting more Chinese shoppers to their stores and UB QFPay makes them ‘China Ready’ by allowing Chinese tourists to pay with their preferred mode of payment.”