Tag Archives: travel agents

TravelAI.com confirmed that its applied use of AI is already delivering returns as it comes close to closing net revenues of USD 16 million for 2024 backed by a gross merchandise value (GMV) of USD 230 million. As the ‘proof of concept’ phase closes for the company, the medium-term aspiration is to become the primary AI-powered agent for travelers, managing the full journey from discovery to booking with precision and efficiency. To fulfill this plan TravelAI has appointed Ennea Capital Partners as its strategic advisor to help provide critical guidance with a focus on product development, go-to-market strategies, monetization, and the formulation of a Buy-&-Build strategy to help TravelAI scale its platform and achieve its medium-term vision of becoming the leading AI-powered travel agent. Founded in 2021, TravelAI.com operates a vast ecosystem of over 400 brands, all designed to serve high-intent travelers with personalized travel discovery solutions. By leveraging applied AI, TravelAI connects travelers with highly-relevant, tailored content, helping them find the perfect travel experiences. TravelAI’s platform already processes millions of visitors each month and facilitates thousands of bookings, optimizing demand for major travel seller partners such as Expedia, Vrbo, and Booking.com. The platform’s AI capabilities enable it to handle and scale billions of unique content segments, providing personalized experiences to travelers globally. “There’s a lot of industry talk and doubt about how and when we can actually turn AI into profits but we’ve discovered a model that actually works – and even more pleased to confirm that we’re on target for $16m USD in net revenue for this year with a gross merchandise value (GMV) of €230m USD. With the applied use of AI, we can offer travelers personalized …

At a special interview with TravelTV MiddleEast, Kaizad Postwalla, Head – International Sales North America, Canada and GMEA, Air India, shared the two most recent initiatives taken by Air India. He commented, “We recently introduced branded fare families, aligning with the global industry standards. This was rolled out on August 13th, the key attributes and other details of which are being shared with our travel partners. Another key development is our work on the Code Share partnership with Air India Express. This will allow agencies to use Air India Document to cover both Air India and Air India Express sectors through GDS. We already have a Code Share Agreement & Special Prorate Agreement (SPA) with Vistara, enabling Air India flights to be sold on international routes paired with Vistara’s domestic sectors. These initiatives are designed to significantly expand the network available to our agents, providing them with more options to sell, not just within/to/from India, but beyond. We are particularly focused on promoting International-to-International connectivity, which we aim to highlight to and seek support from our travel partners in the Gulf.”  

Amadeus and Vistara Airlines successfully collaborated on a joint promotion to support the travel industry during the typically slow period last Ramadan which boosted travel bookings, saw an overwhelming positive response from travel partners and resulted in healthy flight loads and increased incremental segments. As part of the highest seller incentive, six top-performing travel partners were rewarded with attractive prizes including Apple Watches, Lenovo Tablets, Vistara Premium Economy and Economy tickets, and shopping vouchers. The incentive was designed to motivate and appreciate the hard work of the travel agencies during this period. Both Vistara and Amadeus expressed their deep gratitude to their travel partners for their unwavering support. This gesture was met with enthusiasm and appreciation from the travel partners, who reaffirmed their commitment to a long-term partnership with both companies. The collaboration with travel partners has not only bolstered travel bookings has also strengthened relationships with key industry players. The positive feedback from travel partners underscores the success of the promotion. Among the top-performing travel agencies were Akbar Travels Middle East, Alhashar Travels, Bahwan Tourism LLC, Khimji’s House of Travel, Satguru Travel and Tourism Services and Zahara Travel & Service Bureau LLC. These agencies demonstrated exceptional sales performance, contributing significantly to the promotion’s success.

Servantrip announced a global strategic partnership with Holidayme dedicated to empowering travel agents and service providers worldwide under the Traveazy Group. The partnership will provide Holidayme – which has 10,000+ travel agent clients in over 50 countries and is based in Dubai – with full access to Servantrip’s portfolio via an API connection. As such, the clients of Holidayme will have access to a portfolio of 100,000+ curated tours & activities experiences in the main destinations Holidayme is selling. In addition, users of Holidayme can gain access to the wider Servantrip portfolio of 700,000 exceptional experiences catering to diverse travelers. Meanwhile Servantrip’s many supplier partners benefit from strengthened distribution through Holidayme’s 10,000+ travel agencies, giving them access to incremental, hard-to-reach, real-time bookings. In addition, Holidayme’s travel agent clients gain a cross-selling opportunity through the functionality that Servantrip offers that allows users to make several bookings in the same reservation. Anand Srinivasan, Chief Business Officer, Holidayme said: “Our travel agents rely on us to deliver the finest and most exclusive products at competitive prices. After a thorough market evaluation, we found Servantrip to be the ideal partner. This collaboration ensures that our travel agents can access an unparalleled selection of tours and activities, enhancing the value and experience we offer to our clients.” Manuel Núñez, CEO at Servantrip added:  “We are hugely excited to be working with such a well-known brand that is so dedicated and passionate about giving its travel agent clients the best of everything. At Servantrip we understand the importance for frontline travel agents of having the right tours & activities products and how that in-destination part of the package can make or break a sale, whilst also making someone’s …

Tero Taskila CEO and Chairman Beond Airlines in a special interview with TravelTVMiddle East shared that they are working on creating awareness with the travel agents about their premium flight and they are looking at different compensation structures such as providing their own booking platforms where the agents can book their customers to enjoy a seamless experience which will make them happy as well. “We are the world’s fist premium airline operating from Maldives to 60 destinations. After studying the Middle East market we found Riyadh as the luxury market which is underserved unlike other Middle East destinations where there are many frequencies and travellers have access to the Maldives with the frequencies but not with the product that they want. Most of the travel agents have the same requirements so its about making them aware of the product, strength of the product and also how to package the service, not necessarily how do we package the resort and the flight but how we can create a seamless service for their customers, because as a travel agent you want to make sure your customer  will be happy and satisfied. We are looking at different compensation structures and we are providing our own platforms where you can make bookings much earlier than with the traditional inventories. For example, all airlines apart from us are able to sell seats only 360 days ahead but we can do it three years ahead. When some people want to book for a special event they want to book at least 12 or 15 months ahead so this is helpful.”

At a recent exclusive interview with TravelTV Middle East, Alan William Chief Strategy Officer Satguru Travel shared that upskilling the staff is important with new technologies such as AI and NDC. He reiterated, “Travel is a very personal business irrespective of what AI pops out today if you do a ChatGPT and what it pops out today, do you really believe it? I think there is a lot more for AI to go and if you read all the management books they always say to take AI with a pinch of salt and that’s what we are also doing. We are very much aware that technology will be there but when packages are formed they still need human intervention. I come from a generation when computers were introduced they didn’t kill jobs but the skills of the people need to change to adapt to the new requirements it’s a service industry people are needed but it’s a different breed of people that are needed. Upskilling is very important take for example a travel consultant five years ago his job was to issue a ticket and ensure those tickets were issued but today with NDC coming in and the amount of ancillaries the staff has to know.”

At a special interview with TTME, Josh Vasquez – Regional Head – EMEA Region Philippine Airlines disclosed that 2023 had posted  53.8million dollar revenue in terms of passenger sales in the UAE and 70% of which came from the travel agents their most important channel. Vasquez reiterated, “we are celebrating Philippine Airlines UAE Mabuhay Night, this is the second installment of this event, we will be recognizing our top travel agents who have contributed to Philippine Airlines UAE passenger sales for 2023, we have also invited our Filipino community partners and our media friends who have been instrumental in the Philippine Airlines success in the UAE for 2023. In 2023 Philippine Airlines UAE passenger sales posted a revenue of 53.8 billion dollars and  70% of that came from the most important channel which is the travel agents and this event is to recognize them for their major contribution to that bottom line. ”    

Ricky Pacquing – Country Manager Philippine Airlines at a special interview with TTME shared that 80 per cent of their sales come from the travel agents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “we owe a lot to the travel trade so we incentivise them as much as we can providing them back end and front end support.” Participating at the first ever B2B exhibition Saudi Travel Mart in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Philippine Airlines showcased their many connectivity options to attract the Saudi market which consist both locals and expats. Pacquing reiterated that they will be celebrating their 83rd anniversary this year and they will be hosting the top performing agents across the globe to a special award ceremony in Manila next month to recognise their efforts and commitment to bring in the numbers.

General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai in a special interview with TravelTV Middle East shared that travel agents can  now make use of the smart portal to apply and obtain approval for bulk tourist visa within a few minutes with the new system in place. Lt.Colonel Dr. Ghalib Abdullah Hassan Al Majed Al Marri, Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence reiterated, “the new visa issuance application which process all the entry permits through AI solutions within 3 to 10 minutes with this new system. Travel agents apply through the smart portal, the main AI system  is comparison of pictures which is a new solution which expedite the process. The good part of this new solution is that you can obtain approval for bulk visa within a few minutes instead of the earlier time period. Before, if you had 100 or 200 tourists who needed entry visa you had to send each one for approval but with this new system, travel agents can obtain approval within minutes as it becomes one application through the new system.”

Kanoo Travel announced its association with Travel Leaders. This strategic alliance amplifies Kanoo Travel’s international reach, leveraging its deep domain expertise to ensure continued premium service to its clientele and paving the way for future expansion opportunities within the global network. This partnership was announced at a gala event which took place at the Museum of the Future in Dubai on October 5. The fusion of Kanoo Travel’s personalized approach with Travel Leaders’ extensive state-of-the-art technology offerings promises an unparalleled travel management experience. As part of the Internova Travel Group, Kanoo Travel will now have access to Travel Leaders’ broad suite of services, including online booking platforms, marketing tools, a global destination marketing company network and exclusive hotel programs. Furthermore, a comprehensive technology suite will bolster the servicing of both international and local clientele, providing tools for profile management, trip authorization, consolidated data analytics, advanced meetings technology and in-depth customer reporting. Mr. Ali Abdulla Kanoo, Chairman – SBU Trading Divisions, commented, “I believe this partnership with Travel Leaders International will be another milestone step for Kanoo Travel. It synergizes with our recent digitalization efforts and opens new doors, giving us new opportunities to better serve our client base. He added, “Kanoo Travel has taken another step forward, reflecting on our continued dedication to elevate the travel experience. Earlier this year, we introduced Kanoo Travel MORE, expanding our offering with targeted solutions. And today with this alliance, we are even more equipped to provide our clients with an unparalleled travel platform.” “We are thrilled about this collaboration with Travel Leaders, a renowned and revered brand within the Internova Travel Group portfolio. This partnership presents a unique opportunity for Kanoo Travel to …