“The
online travel industry across the whole of the Middle East is growing at an
unprecedented rate, and the significant growth we are witnessing in Saudi Arabia is further testament to this,” said
Rabih Saab, President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa ,
Travelport. “At Travelport we work closely with travel agents and airlines to
help them meet these demands by offering broader content through faster
distribution and sharing our expertise so they can firmly establish themselves
in this rapidly evolving industry sector.”
The
research also shows the rapid development of Saudi Arabia ’s travel industry as a
whole, estimating that by 2014 the country’s travel trade will be worth $11.4bn
compared to $9.8bn in 2011.
To
support the continuous development of Saudi
Arabia ’s online and traditional travel sectors,
Travelport has unveiled its key business priorities for 2014 – all of which
emphasise the company’s focus on Saudi Arabia as a strategic
commercial region. Specifically, next year Travelport will:
Introduce
a range of new technology solutions.
Shortly, Travelport will launch Travelport Smartpoint 3.0 - its next
generation desktop solution for travel agents. In addition, the company will
continue the roll-out of Travelport Merchandising Platform, pioneering
technology for airline distribution, and its leading edge Travelport Universal
API - the industry’s first truly universal API, giving travel agents access to
a world of content and functionality through a single API connection.
Focus
on online technologies - 2014 will see the launch of the next generation
Travelport View Trip Mobile – Travelport’s itinerary management tool. With the
online space developing at such a rapid rate in Saudi Arabia , Travelport will
continue to invest in online technologies to complement existing products
already available to the local trade such as Travelport Mobile Agent, which
enables agents to gain GDS access to via a smartphone or a tablet.
Continue
to invest in Saudi Arabia ’s
travel trade - Travelport is already using its product range, regional
expertise and market knowledge to help further develop Saudi Arabia ’s
travel trade through cutting-edge technologies, educational industry events and
sharing of its professional expertise.
Further
strengthen its team in Saudi Arabia
- in 2014, Travelport will continue to grow its dedicated team in Saudi Arabia ,
with a specific focus on remote regions. Since the start of 2013, Travelport
has already recruited five new Key Account Sales Executives, as well as added
more senior level support to its leadership team.
“Travelport
has a long history in Saudi
Arabia spanning over 20 years and this
remains a key strategic region for us,” added Saab. “This year, we have
continued to grow our footprint across Saudi Arabia and through our solid
product and business stagey in 2014, we will continue to develop our regional
presence and address the ever evolving needs of our customers.”
The
study, called “Assessing the Online Travel Opportunity: The Middle East”, was
carried out in 2012 across 10 Middle East Countries involving UAE, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman and
looks at online travel trends in the region between 2010 and 2014.