THE Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology sector – new partnerships, product launches, aviation industry updates, innovative solutions, and more …
ASEAN tourism players to fast-track reopening of region with digital initiative
In August last year the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), comprising the region’s public and private tourism sector organisations, hosted a virtual signing ceremony with Malaysia-based big data and artificial intelligence company Fusionex to launch ASEANTA Travel Exchange (ATEX).
Touted as a virtual exhibition and engagement platform for the region’s tourism sector, it was announced then ATEX was to go live in Q4 2021.
ATEX “will help to connect and collaborate with regional and global players in a bid to enhance market reach and to add business opportunities,” said Ivan Teh, Fusionex Group founder and group CEO, during the signing ceremony. (Read the story of the event).
The year ended with no news of ATEX’s launch. But a press release from ASEANTA issued on the sideline of the 40th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2022) – a hybrid event currently being held at the seaside city of Sihanoukville (January 16-22) – announced that to support and help fast-track tourism recovery efforts it “is undertaking joint promotions of the region through the organising of the ASEANTA ATEX digital platform.”
ATEX will be launched in stages starting late Q1 2022 with the release of a consolidated Covid-19 information guide, which will be updated regularly.
The platform will feature both a B2B exhibitions and business matching component, as well as a B2C marketplace, which will allow consumers to instantly book trips and tours directly with industry stakeholders throughout ASEAN.
It will also have an AI-driven search tool and act as a central reference for travellers traveling to ASEAN.
ATEX is one of the collaborative initiatives among ASEAN tourism players to kickstart the sector’s recovery in the region “including calls for more coordinated border reopening in ASEAN and interoperability of digital health applications,” added the statement
“ASEANTA will work together with its members which include travel agencies, hotels, airlines and national tourism organisations to actively promote ASEAN as a safe and viable destination for travellers worldwide.”
Meanwhile, ASEAN tourism ministers, at its meeting during ATF also pledged their commitment to the reopening of the region’s tourism to revitalise the sector amid the pandemic.
In a joint statement, the ministers expressed confidence that the region’s tourism sector is ready for reopening, and will bounce back with more resilience.
They also agreed to introduce a standardised Covid-19 vaccination recognition system among ASEAN countries, and reaffirmed cooperation among the organisation member states to ensure that the region remains competitive in the tourism sector.
The past two years have been difficult for travel and tourism in the ASEAN region. In 2021, South-east Asia was acknowledged as the region with the most travel restrictions in the world by UNWTO Tourism Recovery Tracker. Towards the end of of the same year, a number of ASEAN countries prepared to re-open their international borders by reducing entry requirements to allow short visits by tourists. However, due to the Omicron variant many of these initiatives were backtracked and restrictions were reimposed.
The region’s travel sector is optimistic that in 2022, through the regional collborative initiatives, countries in ASEAN may soon their open borders again to both regional and international visitors.
Etihad Airways, CWT roll out carbon offsetting partnership initiative
United Arab Emirates’ national carrier Etihad Airways and travel management platform CWT have launched what they called a “unique carbon offsetting partnership initiative”.
This initiative is part of Etihad’s Corporate Conscious Choices programme, which was launched in December last year and touted as the “world’s first green loyalty programme”. It is the latest initiative in Etihad’s sustainability mission to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and halve 2019 emissions by 2035.
Through the Conscious Choices programme members of Etihad Guest – the airline’s loyalty programme – get Tier Miles and other rewards for making sustainable choices like carrying less baggage on board and offsetting their flights’ carbon emissions using their miles.
CWT described the collaboration as “the first partnership of its kind between Etihad and a TMC”.
The global partnership will see all CWT client bookings made on Etihad-operated flights automatically offset by the airline using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculation methodology..
Running until March 31, 2022, the collaboration will see all offsets purchased go to Etihad’s official offsetting climate action programmes in Makame Savannah REDD project in Tanzania, Peru’s Cordillera Azul National Park and Indonesia’s Katingan Mentaya Project.
Beyond this initiative the two partners said they would continue to “collectively and individually drive forward the carbon neutrality agenda alongside delivering tangible carbon footprint solutions”
As a launch partner for Etihad’s Corporate Conscious Choices, CWT is one of the first organisations globally to participate in Etihad’s corporate sustainability programme.
Travelport adds retailing tools to Travelport+
Travelport has added enhanced travel retailing tools and capabilities to Travelport+, the technology company’s next-generation platform that creates a simplified marketplace for travel retailing.
These are the additional tools on Travelport+:
• Travel content from multiple sources including New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard content. According to Travelport, it is “the first and only global distribution system (GDS) to sign NDC content distribution deals with all three major European airline groups (Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group (IAG) and Lufthansa Group.” It will continue to expand its NDC connections with more than 16 airlines worldwide, including American Airlines, Emirates, Qantas and Singapore Airlines.
• Suite of features added to the latest version of Travelport’s desktop tool, Smartpoint, allowing customers to simplify tasks. Enhancements include more customised itinerary quotes in Trip Quote, as well as faster Assisted Ticketing capabilities that streamline complex ticketing and exchange tasks for agents.
• A new Trip Manager portal offering travellers the ability to service their own trip and carry out fast, easy transactions on the go. This self-service option allows agencies to preserve resources while providing travellers an improved experience with the ability to easily add extras to their trip.
• Enhanced APIs make it easier for agents to understand offers and compare brands with similar attributes on a like-for-like basis. Customers are also able to identify upsell offers with NDC and ATPCO fares for a simpler more modern browsing and shopping experience.
• Self-service rules engine, the Content Optimizer, enables agencies to better manage the hotel bookings they sell. This tool compliments previous improvements to fare management tools so that agencies can easily create and customize their own content rules.
Jen Catto, chief marketing Officer at Travelport, said the enhanced features “empower travel agents to offer more choice, enable greater self-service capabilities for travellers and simplify the most complex servicing processes.”
• Featured image credit (boats at Sihanoukville): f9photos/Getty Images
