Tag Archives: Kathryn Wallington

The standard of digital experiences offered by airlines, hotels and travel agents now carries significant influence over the booking decisions of young travellers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the findings of Travelport’s Global Digital Traveler Research 2019, which surveyed 23000 people from 20 countries. Three-quarters of millennial travellers in the UAE now actively consider whether an airline (77%) or hotel (76%) offers a good digital experience when making a booking. Half (51%) also get frustrated when booking information isn’t available round-the-clock on mobile devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches. Kathryn Wallington, Head of Account Management, United Arab Emirates, at Travelport, said, “Demand for high-quality digital experiences is now exceptionally high among millennial travellers in the UAE. Today, a good digital experience should really be delivered as standard and differentiation should be sought through excellence.” According to the Travelport’s study, when researching a trip, nearly all millennial travellers in the UAE (93%) have now reviewed videos and photos posted by travel brands on social media and one third (34%) ‘nearly always’ do this. When booking a flight online, two fifths (42%) of millennial travels in the UAE today want to personalise their experience. It also revealed that three fifths (60%) of UAE millennials want virtual reality experiences to help them plan their trips in a better way. Other findings include how two thirds (69%) of millennial travellers in the UAE have used voice search to help them manage travel, with one quarter (22%) ‘nearly always’ using the technology for this.  

The third edition of Arabian Travel Awards takes place at Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina tonight with Mr. Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer, Chief Operating Officer Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) gracing the occasion as Chief Guest. The prestigious award ceremony includes a silver service dinner and an opportunity for the hotels to showcase their best to the travel fraternity. Tolga Lacin, General Manager, Westin Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina states, “We are very excited with this new partnership and believe that we will go long way in creating an impact in the industry. Arabian Travel Awards are extremely important as they appreciate and showcase those behind the success of the travel and hospitality industry sector and reward their continued hard work.“ “We are looking forward to an exciting evening at Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina, Travelport, our hospitality partner, and our technology partner for the third consecutive year for coming onboard.” stated Nikhil Jeet, Director, Arabian Travel Awards. Kathryn Wallington, Travelport’s Country Manager for the UAE, commented, “We are delighted to partner with Arabian Travel Awards 2019 for the third consecutive year as the technology partner. We will continue to innovate and build technologies that power the regional and global travel industry.” The awards will be divided into four categories- Personal Awards, Business Awards, Trending Awards, and Partner Awards. They will include awards for the Best Business Hotel, Best Family-Friendly Hotel, Best City Hotel, Best Green Hotel, Best Leisure Hotel, Best Destination Management Company, Best Hotel Apartments, Best B2B Travel Portal and Best Luxury Hotel.

The coveted, Arabian Travel Awards, on June 13, 2019, announced its partnership with Travelport, a leading travel commerce platform, for its annual award ceremony in September this year.  Arabian Travel Awards is a platform for the Middle East to recognize those behind the success of the travel and hospitality industry and to reward their continued hard work. Travelport continues to be the technology partner for the third consecutive award ceremony, reinforcing the ties between these two leading brands in the Middle East. Kathryn Wallington, Travelport’s Country Manager for the UAE, commented, “We are delighted to partner with Arabian Travel Awards 2019 for the third consecutive year as the technology partner. In the past year, Travelport has worked closely with customers and partners to launch a series of innovative solutions in travel distribution and emerging technologies, such as mobile, AR/VR, blockchain etc. Meanwhile, we have solidified our leading position in rich content with over 270 airlines currently benefiting from Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising. We also have a solid roadmap to embrace IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).” Arabian Travel Awards are fair and unbiased, following a systematic method of internet-based voting. These awards are supported by media partners Travel TV.News, TravTalk Middle East, tourismbreakingnews and TravTalk India. “This is the third consecutive year that Travelport is coming onboard as our technology partner at the Arabian Travel Awards and we are very excited to welcome them. Having one the world’s biggest GDS platform as a partner is not a mean feat to achieve and we are happy that our association has only grown over the years. This is also a great opportunity for our award winners who will be recognized on …

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.