The Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and to keep track of developments in these sectors as the green shoots of recovery slowly take root.
NEC, SITA form global partnership to provide a “secure walk-through” airport journey
Japan’s NEC Corporation and SITA are collaborating to develop solutions that enable passengers to have “a secure walk-through” and automated airport journey.
SITA said in a media statement that through the partnership it hopes to “unlock the potential of seamless next-generation passenger processing solutions, making mobile enabled and touchless airport processes a reality.” Passengers will be able use their digital identity on their mobile phone at every step in the journey – just scanning their face to check-in, make payments, drop their bag, as well as pass through security, immigration and boarding.
The two companies will develop the solutions by utilising both companies’ global presence in the market and the combination of technology and artificial intelligence including NEC’s I:Delight identity management platform and SITA Smart Path and SITA Flex.
NEC’s I:Delight platform allows passengers, who have opted to use the service, to be identified quickly and with a high-degree of accuracy even when they are on the move. Its digital identity solutions “capitalise on biometrics technologies to deliver a unified customer experience across a wide range of services,” said NEC executive vice president, Masakazu Yamashina.
SITA CEO Barbara Dalibard noted that by leveraging the company’s “common-use footprint in more than 460 airports globally” and NEC’s identity management technology, it was “well placed” to help its customers deliver an efficient airport experience particularly during these challenging times with increased focus on passengers’ health and safety.
According to SITA, the partnership is timely as airports and airlines are increasingly looking to low-touch and automated passenger processing in order to comply with new hygiene requirements during the current Covid-19 pandemic, and in line with recommendations from Airports Council International and International Air Transport Association (IATA).
CWT introduces new data-powered solutions to guide companies on resuming travel
Business travel management company CWT has made two new additions to its ‘return to travel’ resources to help companies and their employees resume travel in an evolving landscape.
The ‘Return to Travel’ dashboard amalgamates comprehensive Covid-19 related global destination information alongside client-specific travel and location detail to help travel managers assess risks and restrictions throughout the business trips.
The second, ‘CWT Travel Essentials’, enables travellers to search for information on relevant restrictions, procedures and travel requirements based on specific travel itinerary details such as trip origin, destination, travel dates and traveller nationality. The tool is available on a publicly accessible page on the company’s website and via the myCWT mobile and web channels.
“Central to CWT’s commitment to simplifying travel these services augment the rich content we already provide customers and their employees, making it easier to assimilate their own risk and restrictions,” said Erica Antony, CWT’s chief product officer.
“Our new dashboards and search capability provide travel managers and travellers with curated information that is relevant to their individual programmes and travel itineraries. We will continue to add to our resources to help support the wellbeing of our clients throughout the pandemic, and as they return to travel.”
CWT’s return to travel information services are consolidated from multiple third-party sources including government and health advisory sites, travel providers, and universities, aggregated using API connections.
Virtual tours to inspire travel to Malaysia
Despite the pandemic slowing down and with some countries opening their borders many travellers are still cautious to take to the road, leading companies to jump on to the virtual platform to encourage potential travellers to explore their destinations.
Kuala Lumpur-based travel tech platform, LokaLocal, is doing just that – using virtual reality technology “to transform the way people discover destinations in Malaysia”.
LokaLocal said its virtual tours, integrated with stories, videos and audio, provide 360-degree interactive experiences are viewable on any device from anywhere in the world.
Chin Yoon Khen, CEO of LokaLocal, explained, “We’re empowering businesses that want to take their stories and marketing message to a new dimension. Going virtual facilitates content discovery for venues and activities, while boosting engagement and providing real value.”
Currently, the platform creates virtual tours for hotels, resorts, property developers, museums, e-commerce, educational institutions and travel attractions. The customised virtual experiences can be integrated with their booking system, and used to run guided online tours and manage leads.
Among the company’s virtual tours are the Mah Meri Cultural Village in Klang, Selangor, The Edison George Town and KLoé Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
LokaLocal said the digital initiative aims to build the foundation for recovery in travel, and to inspire travellers to visit Malaysia when the country lifts its restrictions and open borders to foreign visitors.
Skyscanner’s new tool provides free access to flight search data
Skyscanner is offering free access to flight search data with its new data visualisation tool to support the travel industry’s recovery.
The tool, part of the company’s Travel Insight offering, combines Skyscanner’s global flight search data with key Covid-19 events and announcements from governments in multiple countries.
Skyscanner said the tool “aims to help businesses in the travel and tourism sector identify trends and make strategic decisions for the future”.
Flight search data is visualised in a simple and intuitive interface showing the volume of 2020 searches over time. Searches are indexed against the highest volume from a particular time period and can be easily benchmarked against 2019 volumes.
According to the travel company, flight search data can provide an “unrivalled insight into early intent and changing traveller behaviours” when compared to other sources of aviation data.
“As the travel landscape fundamentally changes, collaboration and innovation have never been more important to ensure a sustainable route to recovery. That is what we are bringing to market with this new tool, the latest in our suite of Travel Insight products,” commented Michael Docherty, data partnerships lead at Skyscanner.
“Understanding demand trends and being able to plan accordingly will undoubtedly help airlines and other organisations execute their recovery strategies with greater effect and efficiency. We continue to invest in data innovation and aim to introduce even more products to help our partners later this year.”
The new tool is part of Skyscanner’s strategy to support the travel industry on the road to recovery. Other offerings are the Fare Families functionality that enables airlines to maximise fare revenue, while free trials of its Travel Insight API allows organisations to analyse global search and booking data to identify shifts in market and route demand.
• Featured image credit (Passenger using digital identity at airport): SITA
