In the news: New taxi app for Emirates & flydubai loyalty programme members, strong China sales growth for Hotelbeds Group, Kansai Airports’ new digital campaign
Transportation: Emirates Skywards introduces new on-demand taxi app in partnership with CarTrawler
Booking cab rides easier now for Emirates Skywards members. (Image credit: kitzcorner/iStock-Getty Images)
Members of Emirates Skywards, the loyalty programme of Emirates and low cost carrier flydubai, has launched an on-demand ground transportation booking app – Emirates Skywards Cabforce – in partnership with CarTrawler described as the “first of its kind in the world.”
The app development was made possible with CarTrawler’s launch of aggregated ride-hailing capability for the airlines’ loyalty programme.
Emirates said the app is a mobile travel companion that will offer its loyalty members an affordable and efficient transportation service in 27 countries and 117 cities across the world with more countries in the pipeline.
Members just need to link their Emirates Skywards account to their Cabforce profile to use the app. They can book rides selecting their preferred supplier, check the estimated arrival time of their ride, view the estimated fare and Skywards Miles they will earn at the end of their trip, as well as share their live location with friends and family during their ride. Other features are fixed price quotes, secure online credit card payment and electronic receipts for every journey.
The airline said the new app complements the Emirates app where members can check their Skywards Miles balance, tier status and other member offers.
CarTrawler said in a separate statement phase two of the ride hailing capability would provide members with access to pre-booked taxis and would allow them to pay for their rides with Skywards Miles.
“This new functionality being launched with Emirates Skywards is at the front line of travel technology innovation,” said Michael Cunningham, CarTrawler’s SVP distribution strategy.
“CarTrawler’s software development kit (SDK) is easily integrated and facilitates the booking of a full range of mobility services within the airline’s app. It also allows for a much tighter integration with existing stored payments and loyalty credentials of their customers.”
The Emirates Skywards Cabforce app is free to download on iOS and Android devices.
Distribution: China is Hotelbeds Group’s largest wholesale market in Asia Pacific
Strong sales growth from China for Hotelbeds Group. (Image credit of historic Shanghai Financial District awdebenham/iStock-Getty Images)
Outbound travel among mainland Chinese shows no sign of stopping, growing every year by impressive numbers. According to the 2017 China Outbound Tourism Travel Report, jointly produced by Ctrip and China Tourism Academy, the number of outbound trips reached 129 million in 2017, up 5.7% from 122 million in 2016. The market is expected to exceed US$163 billion by 2024.
This means the Chinese market presents great opportunities of revenue growth for destinations and travel and related brands outside of China.
Leading bedbank Hotelbeds Group is one company that is experiencing strong China sales growth.
According to the company’s booking data for the 2017/18 financial year, the group grew the number of room nights sold from the China source market by double digits year-on-year.
China remains the group’s largest wholesale market in Asia Pacific (APAC) for the third year running. Globally, it is the fourth biggest source market in the wholesale channel, up from fifth place last year and from 22nd place in 2011.
The top 10 international destinations booked via the group’s platform this year remain all Asian, with each destination registering double digit growth. Topping the list is Hong Kong followed in descending order by Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Bali, Osaka and Beijing.
For the non-Asian destinations booked via the Chinese source market, Paris is top with strong growth year-on-year followed by London, Prague, Milan, Istanbul, Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
The group sells in the wholesale channel via its Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays and GTA bedbank brands to B2B buyers such as airlines, points redemption schemes, and MICE operators, as well as online travel agents and tour operators.
Sam Turner, wholesale sales & sourcing director at Hotelbeds Group, said the strong sale growth in China “is in part a reflection of the fact that Chinese travellers have now become the world’s number one travel segment, spending one in five of all dollars spent on outbound tourism globally.”
Hui-Wan Chua, Hotelbeds Group’s APAC regional director for wholesale sales, is confident of seeing the same growth as the demand for travelling continues to grow in China as many Chinese people take their first overseas trips.
“Since Tourico Holidays and GTA joined our Group last year we now have over 170,000 hotels available – many of them sourced with Asian travellers in mind, and many of those contracted with exclusive rates and unique content.”
Travel: Kansai Airports launches digital campaign to boost arrivals
Historical Sannen Zaka Street in Kyoto with traditional wooden houses (Image credit: LeeYiuTung/iStock-Getty Images)
Kansai Airports, which operates Kansai International Airport and Osaka International Airport, has launched an integrated media campaign together with Travelport.
Aimed at attracting more overseas tourists to visit the Kansai region in Japan during the upcoming winter season, the campaign is also part of the recovery plan after Typhoon Jebi for Kansai International Airport.
Kansai is a region in the south of Honshu, Japan’s main island. In its centre is Kyoto, one of the most visited Japanese city famous for its classical Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines, traditional wooden houses and gardens.
According to the agreement, Travelport will design, develop and deploy programmatic media solutions and deliver media content in Asia via both B2B and B2C digital channels.
The travel commerce platform will also partner with major airline partners to promote their flights to Kansai International Airport and boost tourist numbers.
Travelport’s digital media solutions help airlines, airports and destinations influence travel buyers and end customers, with support in digital planning, project management and creative design services.
• Featured image credit: Tero-Vesalainen-iStock-Getty Images
