Agents not so smart on mtourism

BANGKOK, 24 January 2012: Tour operators need to urgently present their products to consumers using smart phones and other mobile devices.

That was the core recommendation handed out to industry executives attending Thammasat University’s Innovation in Travel and Tourism seminar, last week.

The university’s College of Innovation visiting professor,Alexander Rayner, told travel agencies that they needed to gain competitive edge particularly through the adoption of social media and mobile phone. Read more

Amadeus introduces hotel product

BANGKOK, 11 January 2012: Amadeus launched a new hotel optimisation package that it claims will increase competitiveness, by saving time for travel counsellors.

The Amadeus Hotel Optimisation Package covers two areas:

• Profit optimisation – to help large travel agencies and TMCs save time and have more control over global hotel programmes;

Read more

Computing a holiday match

LAS VEGAS, 10 January, 2012: Anishiya Taneja and her husband turned a rocky honeymoon into inspiration for a free online travel service that matches people with ideal vacation itineraries.

TravelDNA has been a viral hit during an invitation-only test period and has already caught the eyes of Google, Facebook and Amazon.

“We are trying to be the Amazon.com for travel; building the perfect itinerary for every user in less than a second,” Taneja said while showing TravelDNA to reporters gathered for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Read more

Website adds Thai language

BANGKOK, 28 November 2011: HotelTravel.com, an online travel and hotel reservations, added Thai and Russian language versions of its website to help push sales the company reported last Friday.

HotelTravel.com chief information officer, Olivier Dombey, said the company hopes to increase bookings from Thai travellers after making it easier for them to browse through the site in their own language.

Read more

Mobile phones rule the roost

SINGAPORE, 12 October 2011 – Asia’s travel market is growing steadily despite facing tougher market conditions and a global economic slowdown, says Abacus International in its latest report on trends issued yesterday.

Technology continues to be the key driver in boosting both travel agents’ business capabilities and user end-travel experience – a trend that looks set to grow well into 2012.

Wireless convergence and mobile innovation have played a pivotal role in this growth, as both travellers and travel managers are increasingly utilising this rising channel as a means to deliver and experience end-to-end solutions. This year, the number of mobile workers worldwide will exceed 1 billion and more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies will interact with their customers via mobile devices. Read more

Abacus launches TripPlan

SINGAPORE,  28 September 2011 – Abacus International announced, Tuesday, the launch of Abacus TripPlan, an integrated travel approval and management solution for the Asian enterprises.

Abacus TripPlan is designed for business travel within Asia Pacific and offers several features including a pre-travel approval process – a common practice among Asian corporations often implemented through a manual process or separate system.

The programme will streamline trip planning alerting supervisors automatically of new trip requests that they can then approve with a single-touch anytime, anywhere, through any device. Read more

In the clouds over computing

BANGKOK, 27 September 2011 – Cloud software gained the attention of delegates attending a Software Industry Promotion Agency seminar on how to build software applications and prepare for the ASEAN free market place in 2015.

Organised under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the seminar outlined the advantages of cloud software over the traditional programmes that are installed on PCs directly.

SIPA vice president, Prinya Krachangmol, said software companies in Thailand should recognise the importance of tourism and provide products to support its growth and cloud computing was the way to go. Read more

THAI partners with Abacus

BANGKOK, 27 September 2011 – Thai Airways announced Monday it has signed a partnership contract with Abacus that will offer travel agents a real-time link to the airline’s fare inventory.

Through Abacus Direct Connect the GDS connects its travel agency subscribers, worldwide, to THAI’s central reservation system without going through other systems.

Also, THAI will gain access to use the point-of-sale quota allocation and control the type of queries received from Abacus system, which gives THAI flexibility over flight inventory. Read more

Abacus meets in Almaty

Singapore, 23 September 2011 – Business leaders from around central Asia met to exchange notes on travel industry developments and to explore new business opportunities at the 1st Abacus Corporate Conference held Thursday in Almaty.

More than 200 participants were updated on latest topics such as the evolution and predictions of the corporate travel landscape, as well as lessons in travel procurement. Read more

Abacus JV in Laos up and running

VIENTIANE 15 September 2011 – Abacus International and Lao Airlines signed a joint venture contract, Wednesday, which will give the global distribution system exclusive access to the national airline’s fare inventory in landlocked Laos.

Abacus CEO Robert Bailey and Lao Airlines president, Somphone Douangdara, exchanged contracts at a ceremony in the Lao capital to establish an “exclusive” partnership just weeks ahead of the airline taking delivery of a new Airbus 320 that will be used to inaugurate a new service to Singapore.

Abacus and Lao Airlines are entering a business partnership that will run for an initial 10 years with an option to renew for another five years. Read more

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