Tag Archives: AI

Sojern announces the latest version of its Sojern Travel Marketing Platform with enhanced Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered audiences. Sojern has leveraged its long-standing AI capabilities to provide expanded support for more than 10,000 travel marketers annually. Customers include hotels and resorts of all sizes, destinations, attractions and airlines. “Our customers needed to respond swiftly to the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape, so during the pandemic, we expanded our automation and AI capabilities. It all begins with data, specifically the Sojern Traveler Ecosystem™, which powers our platform with billions of travel intent signals from thousands of travel brands in every corner of the globe,” said Kurt Weinsheimer, Chief Solutions Officer at Sojern. “While AI is making headlines now, we’ve been harnessing its capabilities for years and are excited to announce these new updates. We have competitors that are just now building AI functionality, and I can tell you firsthand that it takes several years to develop and refine the sophisticated AI models that power our platform. Our 15 years of experience and deep technological expertise gives us a significant advantage in delivering results with AI-powered audiences in the latest iteration of our Platform.” Sojern’s AI-powered audiences offer travel marketers a strategic advantage in optimizing their marketing investments. By leveraging AI technology, marketers can make informed decisions on resource allocation, effectively targeting the right customer segments for maximum return on investment and business impact. Through automated audience segmentation and optimization, brands engage with relevant audiences in real time, achieving greater precision, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. In response to increasing demand for personalized experience, and 71% expressing their expectation of personalization from companies, Sojern’s data-driven approach enables brands to deliver highly tailored campaigns at scale …

Google Cloud and Qatar Airways have agreed to collaborate to set out the airline’s intention to explore leveraging Google Cloud’s data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to create superior customer experiences for its passengers. In 2022, Qatar Airways carried 18.5 million passengers across 150 destinations worldwide. This large volume of passengers drives an abundance of structured and unstructured data to the airline’s digital transformation unit. The proposed collaboration with Google Cloud is intended to help bring deeper meaning to Qatar Airways’ customer data through the power of Google’s data analytics, AI and machine learning (ML) solutions, including BigQuery and Vertex AI. This, in turn, will enable the airline to enhance the travel experience for passengers, providing them with offerings personalized to their individual needs, travel trends, and past travel history. Qatar Airways Chief Information Officer, Mr. A.T. Srinivasan, said, “Qatar Airways is a highly respected aviation leader which has always set benchmarks with its globally recognised and award-winning customer service. Google Cloud brings us the opportunity to build elasticity and scalability on demand, as we increasingly look to leverage both structured and unstructured data to personalise customer and employee experience. We will also leverage Google’s highly secure and diverse set of Cloud service offerings for optimising our airline and airport operations particularly in the areas of aircraft inventory, flight operations both on ground and in the air, as well as airport operations. We also look forward to collaborating with Google Cloud to try out some of their cutting-edge technology through this long-term partnership. The presence of a Cloud in Qatar gives us the assurance that our data stays in-country and we can focus on data and AI/ML led innovation …

Miral Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with Microsoft, announced the launch of its generative AI customer-facing service leveraging ChatGPT through Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to provide personalized guidance and information to customers visiting Yas Island’s theme parks and experiences. With over 1,700 operations completed successfully within a week, ChatGPT is being used to augment the capabilities of chatbots for customer services for the first time, not only across various industries in the UAE, but also within the wider region’s tourism and entertainment sector. Commenting on the collaboration, Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, Group CEO of Miral, said: “We are proud to be pioneering the introduction of ChatGPT through Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service within the tourism and entertainment sector.  We champion innovation at every step and believe that digital transformation is key to creating more compelling and personalized visitor propositions. Our collaboration with Microsoft is a testament to our relentless pursuit of delivering unique and memorable experiences to guests of all ages and nationalities, further positioning Yas Island as a top global destination for entertainment and leisure.” Miral has long been working with Microsoft, having used the company’s intelligent cloud and data services for its existing guest experience platform and operations. As part of its ambition to be a customer-centric, progressive and efficient organisation, Miral plans to use Azure OpenAI Service and ChatGPT to enable customers to plan their day at any of the theme parks, providing a more seamless customer experience. “We are delighted to collaborate with Miral to enhance its customer experience through the use of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.” Said Naim Yazbeck, General Manager, Microsoft UAE. “With the help of Azure OpenAI Service and ChatGPT, Miral can better engage with …

The annual growth in the contribution of AI is expected to range between 20-34 per cent per year across the Middle East, with the fastest growth in the Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt. The $135 billion investment plan in digital transformation set by Vision 2030 will transform the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the global epicentre of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and supercharge the Saudi economy as a global powerhouse in the digital age. A PwC 2018 report estimated that AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined. Of this, $6.6 trillion is likely to come from increased productivity and $9.1 trillion is likely to come from benefits to consumers. PwC’s report estimated that the Middle East is expected to accrue 2% of the total global benefits of AI in 2030. This is equivalent to US$320 billion where the largest gains are expected to accrue to Saudi Arabia as AI is expected to contribute over US$135.2 billion in 2030 to the economy, equivalent to 12.4% of GDP. In relative terms the UAE is expected to see the largest impact of close to 14% of 2030 GDP. AI contribution in Egypt is expected to reach US$42.7 bn in 2030, equivalent to 7.7% of the Egyptian GDP. To meet the demand for having a global platform gathering world class technology experts, the Saudi Emerging Technologies Forum will take place from November 11-13, 2019 in Kempinski Hotel in Riyadh.  The forum is a mega event that will gather over 500 government officials and senior level executives, more than 50 speakers, leading 12 panel discussions with the participation of 900 attendees, …

The 7th edition of the Global Airport Leaders’ Forum (GALF) is set to take place in Dubai this year. One of the world’s most influential knowledge-sharing platforms for the airports industry, agenda for GALF 2019 taking place from April 29 to May 1 alongside the 19th edition of Airport Show reflects the changing aviation landscape and future technologies. Airport Show and its co-located events will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority; Chairman, Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group. The knowledge-enhancement initiative is themed ‘Leading Collaborative Sustainable Aviation Growth’, reflecting the future growth path of the industry which supports US$2.7 trillion of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and carries over four billion passengers and 62 million tonnes of freight a year. At GALF, industry leaders and experts from around the world will gather to discuss common challenges, partnership opportunities and chart the way forward for the region’s aviation growth. The three-day event will feature pressing topics including smart airports and sustainability, airport privatisation models,  building non- aeronautical revenue systems and the future of blockchain in aviation, amongst other topics. Dubai has ambitious plans to be the world’s first city fully powered by blockchain by 2020 and the emirate is making persistent efforts to be a global leader in blockchain adoption. Daniyal Qureshi, Group Exhibition Director, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, organisers of Airport Show said, “The agenda for GALF 2019 undoubtedly reflects the direction the industry is going in and we are looking forward to seeing what interesting discussions take place to ensure our industry is at the forefront of digital transformation.”