Tag Archives: travel technology

Sabre Corporation announced a new alliance with Red Sparrow Tourism Consultancy. The deal will give travel agents across Egypt increased opportunities to grow their businesses with Sabre’s intuitive technology. Through the agreement, Red Sparrow will be licensed to represent and distribute the Sabre brand to travel agencies across Egypt. This will further amplify Sabre’s growing presence in Africa while giving agents enhanced access to Sabre solutions, including Sabre Red 360, which provides a full spectrum of bookable content through a customizable interface. Through Red Sparrow, Sabre-connected agents will also have access to a localized helpdesk in Egypt. “We’re excited and proud to be combining Sabre’s advanced technology with our deep market support and expertise,” said Tarek Hefny, Country Manager, Red Sparrow. “With continued focus on further, significant growth for the Egyptian tourist sector, it’s more important than ever that travel agents here have access to the industry-leading solutions they need to enhance offers and experiences for travellers while growing their own revenue.” This latest agreement further expands Sabre’s geographic footprint in Africa, following a recent distributor deal with SABRON Tech Ltd for key markets in East Africa. “Working collaboratively with our travel partners across the globe is incredibly important to Sabre, and for the growth of the wider travel ecosystem,” said Sean McDonald, Managing Director, EMEA, Agency Solutions. “So, we’re delighted to come together with Red Sparrow to provide travel agents in Egypt with the technology they need to make compelling recommendations and create personalized experiences for their travellers through Sabre’s smart workflows.”

Sabre Corporation announced a multi-year renewal agreement with lastminute.com N.V. Under the long-term technology agreement, lastminute.com expects to drive a better customer experience with Sabre’s advanced shopping and virtual payments solutions. Using Sabre’s rich GDS content and Bargain Finder Max shopping API, lastminute.com will be able to build and display compelling itineraries for travelers in seconds. This will help enable the OTA to customize booking experiences by tailoring search results for the most relevant fares, based on itinerary preferences. “Sabre is foundational to lastminute.com’s technology strategy, and the support of our shopping and payment capabilities are areas that are keys in our partnership,” said Luca Concone, CEO, lastminute.com. “We are in a strategic partnership that drives technology innovation to help travel companies increase customer loyalty and drive revenue, and in turn are creating a turn-key travel planning and booking experience for the end user.” As a B2B payments provider to lastminute.com, Sabre Virtual Payments technology offers increased flexibility and control, enhanced fraud protection and security, accurate reconciliation, and better payment automation and efficiency.   “Lastminute.com has the ability to provide a seamless customer experience from shopping, booking and payment and that translates into the ability to gain more share of wallet for the online travel agency,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer for Sabre Travel Solutions.  “We help drive conversion with customer-centric technology and cloud-native microservices enabling more agility and shopping products to turbocharge the retailing experience.”   Through the Sabre GDS, lastminute.com will have access to more than 400 airlines, 1.6 million lodging options, and hundreds of tour operators, rail, and car rental providers to sell customized travel packages from suppliers around the world.

Representatives from more than 80 of the world’s leading travel technology companies are preparing to exhibit at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May. Over 2,000m2 of exhibition space will be dedicated to industry technology during the 30th edition of ATM, representing a 54.7% increase in sector participation compared to last year’s show. ATM 2023’s Travel Tech space will also be supplemented by a brand-new Sustainability Hub, which will shine a spotlight on the latest environmentally responsible travel trends and innovations. The ATM Travel Tech Stage sponsored by Sabre, will host a selection of in-depth panel discussions that will explore how modern innovations such as artificial intelligence, big data and Web3 are enabling seamless operations, professional development, payments, accessibility, sustainable travel and enhanced customer experiences. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “My colleagues and I are delighted to see such strong representation from travel technology professionals at this year’s show. Encouraging innovation is especially pertinent to ATM 2023 as it is a crucial component of our theme, ‘Working Towards Net Zero’. It is essential for our industry to support and invest in the most promising technologies today in order to build a better and more sustainable travel sector for future generations.” Sponsored by Sabre, the ATM Travel Tech Stage will host a series of innovation-centric discussions and events throughout the show. The first session, ‘Technology: The Enabler of Sustainable Travel’, will see industry experts discuss how online tools are making it easier for consumers to mitigate their environmental impact when purchasing and planning trips. Moderated by Shashank Nigam, Founder and CEO of …

Amadeus and House of Travel Bahrain have renewed their ongoing partnership with the signing of a new multi-year agreement. This will help one of Bahrain’s leading travel agencies to benefit from the latest optimization and digitalization tools as well as a host of other technology. Eng. Nashat Bukhari, GM – Amadeus Saudi Arabia & Bahrain, commented, “We are thrilled to continue working with House of Travel in Bahrain as part of this new, multi-year agreement. The suite of Amadeus solutions that will be deployed is designed to help House of Travel enhance its leading position in Bahrain. The agency will also benefit from advanced optimization and productivity tools, and market insights.” Jehad Amin, CEO & Vice Chairman – House of Travel, added, “At House of Travel Bahrain we only work with the best partners, so we can deliver on our mission to improve the customer and traveller experience. After a thorough review, we’re delighted to have selected Amadeus as our preferred technology partner. Thanks to this ongoing partnership, House of Travel’s consultants will be able to spend even more time focusing on serving the needs of customers and delivering an unmatched level of service.” Highlights of the deal include the deployment of touchless, robotic tools to accelerate and automate administrative functions as well as Amadeus Online suite, a complete end-to-end online booking solution with integrated payment gateway and trip notifications. House of Travel Bahrain will also benefit from the latest market insights from Amadeus.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Company for Visa and Travel Solutions (SVTS) for broader collaboration on streamlining travel arrangements. The signing took place during the first day of the World Travel Market in London between Wael Basaffar, SAUDIA’s VP sales, and Abdullah Aljorias, the Chief Business Officer of SVTS. According to the MoU, the two parties will share the use of each other’s office spaces around the world and co-invest in technological solutions for online interconnectivity. The two companies will also explore ways to create, develop, and apply joint services and marketing. In addition, the MoU proposes the possibility of joint operations support bureaus to help run day-to-day activities. There is also a possibility of SAUDIA offering exclusive deals across its international network. Mr. Basafar said that the MoU comes as part of SAUDIA’s commitment to broadening its partnerships with government agencies and the private sector locally and internationally for greater online interconnectivity of services, which supports the Kingdom’s digital transformation agenda and plans to streamline travel arrangements for visitors from across more than 100 destinations in four continents. Mr. Abdullah Aljorias, Chief Business Officer, clarifies that the memorandum was signed to enable the company to reach its long-term objectives. The primary purpose is to provide all new and innovative solutions and digitization services that contribute to simplifying processes for passengers. It also works to benefit from all the service and sales centers across the world that both companies provide. According to Aljorias, SVTS looks forward to ongoing partnerships that encourage a wide range of government, semi-government, private sectors, and individual beneficiaries.

When the new form of travel and the changing needs of travellers are discussed, the new generation travel solution HeyTripster.com approaches the changing understanding of travel from a different angle by bringing travellers and local information together and supporting sustainable tourism. The travel tech startup offers daily trip plans that enable locals to generate income and plants a tree in the city for each plan purchased.   Time passing with the new environmental challenges… Many of us have started looking for places to travel to again. Well, if we don’t want to physically meet with a professional guide and travel, also if we want to plan our trip without drowning in the information pollution on the internet due to the changing conditions after the pandemic, what can we need other than refined local knowledge? HeyTripster comes to your aid at this point with a new generation travel understanding.   Carefully selected locals, such as gourmets, bloggers, art directors, editors, or architects, who deal with cities with their different characteristics, become trip designers with HeyTripster. Trip plans prepared by locals with different interests combine the most famous places and the most hidden places of the city with all the clues in carefully prepared, up-to-date, and optimum routes. Learning the travel preferences of the travellers, HeyTripster recommends the most suitable plans for the specific requests of the travellers with the algorithm they developed.   Digital plans, which can be viewed online or offline, are delivered to the traveller as the result of the purchase. HeyTripster, which has a business model in which locals generate revenue for each plan purchased, aims to draw attention to sustainable tourism and carbon footprint by donating one …