Category Archives: Technology

Uber, in partnership with Dubai Taxi Corporation launched UberONE. Around 50 brand new premium electric cars will be added to the Uber app, giving riders across Dubai the chance to request the fully-electric, smart and sustainable transport option at the touch of a button. Starting from October 10, riders will be able to choose from a dedicated fleet of electric vehicles exclusively via the ‘UberONE’ option on the Uber app. The joint initiative comes as part of Dubai Taxi Corporation and Uber’s commitment to helping Dubai become the smartest city in the world in support of the Green Economy for Sustainable Development Initiative. Chris Free, General Manager for Uber, UAE said, “At Uber we are constantly innovating our offering and looking for ways to provide new and progressive experiences at the push of a button. We are tremendously excited to be the exclusive ride-hailing partner for the clean vehicle technology to deliver our driver-partners and riders with more efficient, less-polluting mobility. We will continue to work hand in hand with Dubai Taxi Corporation to bring innovative infrastructural solutions to Dubai and grow the city’s smart mobility ecosystem.”

Travelport hosted a two-day conference to provide insight into emerging new trends in the market and future of the sector with AI technology at Shangri-La, Oman. Over 230 customers from 14 countries attended the event. Kathryn Wallington, Country Manager, UAE Travelport welcomed the guests and explained the interactive opportunities at the conference. In his opening remarks, Matthew Powell, Managing Director, Middle East and South Asia, Travelport explained that Travelport had transformed from a regular GDS to a travel commerce and distribution platform to enable more opportunities in their portfolio. He reiterated how their platform enabled travel providers and their evolving technologies to deliver relevant content for travel buyers and consumers. He also spoke of how the platform provided new tools and solutions to customers and created a frictionless path to work with speed and accuracy, automated operations and the latest B2B travel payments. He reiterated that there was an expected opportunity of $8.6 billion in mobile travel sales in Middle East and India by 2022.

At the Top, Burj Khalifa gets a digital facelift with a series of innovative technology experiences. As the guests set to start the Burj Khalifa journey, the ambience changes; white gradient glass walls provide an illusion of clouds, highlighting the heights they will scale soon and give a first glimpse of a 4-metre illuminated model of Burj Khalifa. Here, a giant video wall creates a ‘movement art’ of all visitors. Sensors gather the presence of every visitor, his location and turn them into real-time digital art. The replica of Burj Khalifa comes to life with digital projections in four different themes. The view of the Burj Khalifa model is hidden from the central reception area by ‘magic glass’ – a technological application enabling visitors on the outside to get just a glimpse of the model. Ahmad Al Falasi, Executive Director – Group Operations at Emaar Properties, said, “We have leveraged the latest advancements in digital technology to ensure that every visit, every time, by anyone will assure them delightful surprises. The spacious, aesthetic and digitally enhanced reception will significantly add to the convenience of our visitors from across the world.”

InterGlobe Air Transport (IGAT), through its parent company – The Navigator Tourism and Travel LLC, has been appointed as the exclusive representation partner in the UAE for Sonhando, a Portuguese Destination Management Company (DMC) with effect from October 1, 2017.  The Navigator shall be responsible for developing and promoting outbound tourism to Portugal from the UAE through B2B, B2C and B2E channels. Sonhando, a part of the renowned Pestana Group, is a leading DMC and offers comprehensive tourism options – both packages and customised tailor-made itineraries across Portugal.  The company specializes in multiple theme based holiday options such as family, honeymoon, golf vacations, adventure tourism and beach specials to name a few. InterGlobe Air Transport, is a leading airline management company headquartered in India and assists world’s leading airlines and tourism/leisure companies in setting up of operations and successful execution. The Navigator Tourism and Travel LLC, is its group company in the UAE and specializes in airline, tourism & destination promotion. Navneet Jaggi, Vice-President Middle East, InterGlobe Air Transport, said, “We believe that destinations aren’t about geography, they’re about psychology, they’re about a feeling. The well-travelled clients from this region yearn for newer destinations and ‘wow’ experiences and we feel that Portugal as a destination has all the ingredients of being the next big outbound leisure and MICE destination from UAE.  In Sonhando, we believe, we have just the right partner to help us deliver the same level of customer service that InterGlobe has always been known for. We’re extremely excited about this partnership.” José Manuel Antunes, Director General of Sonhando said- “Together with Pestana Group and Euro Atlantic Airways as a part of our group, we have, over the …

India-based online travel marketplace, Ezeego1.ae entered the Middle East market with an aim to expand its global footprint in the B2B travel space. Their newly-established office in Dubai Internet City will be the headquarters and global base for strengthening its presence across the markets in Africa and the Middle East. Neelu Singh, CEO and Director, Ezaago1, said, “We started off our B2B arm in 2009 and have been in the forefront concentrating on different offerings in the market. We have already mapped the requirements of the Middle East market and have confidence that we can cater to all those conditions, necessities and constraints. Dubai will be the headquarters catering to the Middle East and Africa region as we see a very good growth potential. We believe that our global reach and technological know-how combined well with the local expertise of the travel providers can address the growing demand of inbound and outbound travel in the region. Extension of our rich B2B presence to this region will support the need of the growing client base of travel partners by providing solutions in the area of marketing, inventory management and dynamic pricing to achieve sustainable profit margins.” Ezeego1 will enable and distribute comprehensive content of hotels, holidays, acticites, cruises, cars amd travel insurance through its B2B online travel portal agent.ezeego1.ae. Travel agents, tour operators, retail and wholesale agents and destination management companies partnering with Ezeego1 can access millions of travel products on the online booking tool, avail flexible payment and settlement options, multi-currency support, customised technology and 24×7 customer support across geographies to be able to provide their customers the best travel experience.

Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier, has extended its partnership with Amadeus, one of the leading providers of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry, choosing to bolster its services by employing state-of-the-art innovations at the heart of its business operations. The extended partnership comes as Middle East Airlines aims to increase its commercial agility while gaining competitive advantages through new merchandising practices such as dynamic pricing, fare families and ancillary sales. MEA will adopt a suite of tools which optimise merchandising opportunities and which enable more personalised experiences for its customers. MEA already migrated to Amadeus’s advanced revenue management technology in November 2016. Adib Charif, Head of IT, Middle East Airlines, said: “After having enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Amadeus for several years now, we are very happy to extend our collaboration. Amadeus solutions enable us to operate efficiently, by delivering products and services that are beneficial to our customers while also keeping our operations running smoothly. The customer focus and team dedication give us great peace of mind; with Amadeus, we know our operations are in good hands.” The extension of Middle East Airlines’ contract with Amadeus will see the latter deliver a range of technology solutions. Amadeus Payment Platform will enable the activation of payment in new channels, which can allow direct collection and easy payment for ancillary services, such as excess baggage charges. The solution promises to improve productivity and enhances the user experience by managing operations from a single graphical user interface. In addition, Middle East Airlines will be adopting Amadeus Reservation Desktop web, which automates functionalities for call centre agents and enables merchandising functionalities. This will allow the airline to drastically reduce the …

Musafir.com launched its new Arabic mobile app, enabling travellers to manage their travel plans on the go and in real time. The app will be available on iOS and android platforms. It offers a range of features allowing customers to personalise their travel experience including a sub-second search on flights, express checkouts without having to fill in credit card details repeatedly, e-visa application services, holiday and hotel bookings, as well as  advanced search filters such as destinations with halal food offerings. According to a recent report by PwC titled ‘Global Megatrends and their impact on the Middle East’s travel and tourism industry’, smartphone penetration across the GCC is among the highest in the world, reaching 78 per cent in the UAE and 77 per cent in Saudi Arabia. Albert Dias, Chief Technology Officer, Musafir.com, says, “At Musafir.com, innovation is at the heart of what we do as a business and what our customers have come to expect from us. And, with the region steadily advancing towards the digitisation of the travel and tourism industry, we must ensure that our products respond to evolving customer demands. The new Arabic mobile app will give our customers more control over the travel booking process, allowing them to manage and complete their trips anytime and anywhere.”

CharterClick.com, a real time online booking portal, focusing exclusively on marine leisure transportation, is launching its first European division in Cyprus. By adding a real time aspect to a long-proven formula of booking tickets and services online, CharterClick completely eliminates a need for any enquiries before the boat or a trip can be booked. All you have to do is set the date, starting time and a duration of the trip, along with the number of people expected on board. The system then will give you a list of all the available options, that all can be instantly booked and paid for with a credit or debit card. “Cyprus launch is an organic continuation of CharterClick’s plan to provide our services anywhere in the world.” says Nick Doroshenko, CharterClick’s Business Development Executive. “After establishing our operations both in UAE and Oman, we continued researching the global yacht market, and instantly realized that we should be moving towards European expansion. Having the biggest yacht charter market share in the world, European business segment sure seems like the right next step for us, if we really want to go global. We chose Cyprus as our first European destination for two reasons – size of the territory and overall location. The island is not that big, which gives us a perfect opportunity to gradually increase the size of our European fleet, while still keeping that personal touch CharterClick has become famous for. And being located in the Eastern Mediterranean region, Cyprus’s tourist flow can still be considered relatively low, in comparison with Italy, Croatia or Spain. But you can surely expect us there as well really soon.”

Travelport and Ethiopian Airlines announced a new multi-year full-content agreement, which sees, Ethiopia’s flag carrier selecting Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform to promote its full inventory across the globe. Under the agreement, Travelport’s technology will support Ethiopian Airlines market and retail their offerings, in a more visual and effective way to a network of over 68,000 Travelport-connected travel agents in over 180 countries worldwide. The two companies have also renewed their long-term operator agreement, which will continue to see Ethiopian Airlines distributing Travelport’s technology in the country. This means that the Ethiopian customer base will continue to take advantage of Ethiopian Airlines’ regional expertise, and Travelport’s revolutionary products and services, including the industry-leading point of sale solution for agencies, Travelport Smartpoint, which was recently upgraded to further boost agent efficiency. Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines said: “We are very happy to continue and expand our collaboration with Travelport. As travel technology advances, Travelport will support our business meeting and exceeding travellers personalized needs. Travelport’s innovative solutions and unrivalled choice of travel content provide many opportunities to make our business stronger and we are looking forward to continuing to support the travel industry in Africa.” Rabih Saab, Travelport’s President & Managing Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, commented: “We are delighted to cement a successful 20 year relationship with Ethiopian Airlines, an airline that has established itself as a key component in the development of travel and tourism in the region , by signing both a full content and operator agreement. Travelport is committed to deliver a world of consumer ready content to the travel agent community and travellers, and support the country’s travel and tourism industry. …

MakeMyTrip and InterGlobe Technology Quotient, the official distributor of Travelport in India, have forged a strategic alliance that will allow the OTA access into Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. Under the agreement, MakeMyTrip can expand the use of Travelport’s technology from the Ibibo Group to their other primary distribution channels starting in the second half of calendar year 2017. Gordon Wilson, Travelport’s President and CEO, commented, “India is a market with enormous growth potential where Travelport, working with our distributor ITQ, has grown in air booking terms by 14 per cent in the first half of 2017 when the GDS air market has grown by 11 per cent. Securing a partnership with the leading online travel agency in the market, with a high growth profile and tremendous track record, gives even further impetus to our plans in the country.” Deep Kalra, Founder, Chairman and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, added, “This is an exciting time for MakeMyTrip and we are delighted to partner with Travelport and ITQ as part of our growth strategy in the service of the travelling Indian consumer.” Travelport currently boasts a portfolio of approximately 400 airlines, including the merchandised content of over half of these carriers such as fares families and ancillary products (paid seat assignments, baggage fees, priority boarding, etc). MakeMyTrip, along with its other entities, Goibibo and redBus, receives over 33 million visits via its desktop and mobile-web platforms and serves over 40 million mobile app active users each month.