The Middle East travel industry is expected to see a high level of mobile technology adoption, personalisation and an amazing growth of online travel, says an expert.
For travel firms, having an online and mobile strategy is not an option anymore. It’s a must, says Daniel Naoumovitch, CEO, Sabre Travel Network, Middle East.Being the leading innovative technology provider to the travel and tourism industry, Sabre always keeps an eye on the future and invests in the latest technologies that anticipate the needs of its customers and travellers, he says in an interview with TTN.Sabre is a leading provider of solutions for the travel industry, including agencies, corporations, suppliers, developers, government and online.Excerpts from the interview:What are the core areas of focus for Sabre in the region?For the Middle East, we see high adoption of mobile strategies and amazing growth of online travel. Personalisation and providing customised services are the way to help our customers increase travellers’ loyalty and differentiate their services. We always look into new ways to empower and enable our customers and partners to achieve their goals, increase revenues, reduce costs and most importantly provide a better customer experience.
Disruptive communication technologies are changing the way travellers deal with travel firms. What are the latest trends in the industry and how are you helping your clients meet the needs of the time?Travellers’ expectations are on the rise. The millennial generation of travellers – digital natives – are accustomed to the features and functionality of consumer-facing, online travel tools. As a result, they expect an intuitive, user-friendly experience for travel. Personalisation in travel is mainly being driven by their technology habits. They expect to find what they are looking for at anytime, anywhere, using any device. For travel firms, having an online and mobile strategy is not an option anymore. It’s a must!Studies prove that travellers are using their mobile devices before, during and after their trip. Wearable technology is also part of the package and travellers expect their devices to synchronise with their smart watches. Sabre has a wide range of products and solutions that support customers and their online and mobile strategies. They include Sabre Red Mobile Workspace; Sabre Red Apps; the free itinerary application TripCase, which is available on smartwatches; Sabre Dev Studio; and Sabre Corporate Solutions, to name a few. There are also new online firms springing up, bringing innovation to the market. How does Sabre address the needs of this market?Sabre is the global market leader in online travel with nine out of the top 10 global online travel agencies (OTAs), including Expedia and Orbitz, partnering with Sabre. We are bringing this global expertise to serve our customers in the region and provide them with the latest solutions and products to differentiate their businesses. We have helped big players entering the online travel market like Musafir and Rehlat which are experiencing great results. At the same time, we are helping our traditional legacy partners like Kanoo, Dadabhai and ITL to go online and compete with the global players.
User experience is a key to better use of technology. What efforts Sabre is making in this regard, particularly in relation to the region.The real value for travel companies lies in applying travel data and insights to create a better guest experience. One of the easiest ways to capture data is to integrate with a travel app that manages all aspects of the trip. If consumers have one app that manages their trip end-to-end, they will be more likely to use it frequently.Sabre’s travel itinerary management app, TripCase, collects information from various sources about people’s trips, storing it in one place. It enables travel companies to deliver enhanced customer service through offering increased personalisation across the customer travel experience, from seat selection and onboard entertainment to mobile concierge services. TripCase manages more than 30 million trips per year and enables more than 110,000 travel companies to create additional touchpoints with their customers.Also, Sabre has created profiling technology for travel companies (including airlines, hotels and travel management companies) that house customer data in individual 360 degree profiles that include an exhaustive list of attributes about a customer. In addition, Sabre has built technology that results in a next-gen, data-driven customer experience that improves long-term customer loyalty and profit-margin growth, for example, through its Customer Experience Manager and Dynamic Retailer.
How was the growth for Sabre regionally in 2015 and what are the projections for this year?Despite the many challenges our region faced this past year which affected economies overall, from political and economic constraints to dropping oil and gas prices, we are very pleased with our accomplishments and I can say we have set the proper momentum that will help us to continue to rise in 2016.
What are the plans for expansion and entry to new markets?We are always looking into new markets and in continuous expansion in markets with opportunities in which we already exist. For example, we entered Iraq half way through 2015 and today we have established five new offices. We have all been amazed at the success in adoption of technology. The same applies to our offices in key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt, where we are continuously developing and expanding to accommodate our growth in these markets. Today, we operate from 27 offices in 13 countries throughout the Middle East and the Levant, including 15 training centres across the region.
By Sree Bhat