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UK firm appoints experienced travel technology professionals to drive Gulf expansion strategy as market demand for advanced booking solutions booms.
Traveltek Group Ltd, a world-leading travel technology provider, has launched a Middle East operation as it looks to fill the huge gap in the market for advanced travel booking solutions. The UK-based firm, which counts major global travel brands such as Virgin Holidays, Flight Centre and dnata, as well as its sister companies, Imagine Cruises and Global Travel Group, amongst its roster of big-name clients, has established an office in Dubai and appointed two highly-experienced travel technology professionals to lead its Gulf expansion strategy.
Vinod Singh comes on board as Regional Manager, Middle East and India and Vivek Katheriya joins the team as Regional Sales Manager, India and MENA. Both recruits bring vast Middle East travel technology experience to their roles, having worked for reputable industry players. Between them, Singh and Katheriya are targeting the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, all markets where travel agents, tour operators and wholesalers in are in urgent need of sophisticated travel technology to help drive efficiencies, boost sales and meet the complex demands of their customers.
Traveltek has provided the global travel industry with award-winning solutions for more than two decades, with its dynamic packaging and cruise booking solutions widely recognised as world leading.
“Given our proven track record delivering a powerful and successful selling platform to the international travel trade, we are well positioned to harness the healthy growth of the GCC travel and tourism industry” said Peter Whittle, Global Sales Director, Traveltek. “Our global expertise, combined with the market and technology experience demonstrated by Vinod and Vivek, will ensure we can cater to the needs of the region’s travel trade now and in the future, particularly as demand for dynamic packaging and cruise booking solutions grows at a rapid rate.”
Traveltek’s dynamic packaging solutions have seen the company win the coveted ‘World Leading Dynamic Packaging Solutions Provider’ at the World Travel Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The web-based technology enables agencies and tour operators to package and sell complex itineraries that include flights, hotels, tours, transfers, car rental, cruises, attractions tickets and more. Companies can also package their own stock, third-party stock, or a mixture of both. Consolidated cruise content from 190 of the world’s leading lines, part of an API that connects travel companies to a global database of more than 300 industry suppliers, is available to Traveltek clients, bringing supplier integration onto one single platform. Traveltek provides multi-channel sales options – B2B, B2C, call centre, mobile, etc – and can display packages in multiple currencies and languages. Options to localise solutions for the Middle East market, including Arabic-language content, will be available to travel companies that partner with the travel technology specialist. A back-office system that produces bookings reports and client documentation; a CRM that manages clients and enquiries; and a tour operating platform that controls pricing and distributes contracts are also part of Traveltek’s unrivalled portfolio.
“Traveltek offers a full end-to-end solution for multiple products and sales channels,” confirmed Singh. “For leisure travel companies looking to make the most of this fast-growing market, we also provide live access to a huge database of global travel suppliers.” Katheriya added: “In addition, the technology facilitates secure online transactions, which is crucial in a region where online travel companies are yet to realise their full potential. Factor in the ability to conduct customised search journeys and documentation for B2B and B2C websites and Traveltek has an important role to play in bring new levels of sophistication and trust to the Middle East’s online travel arena.”
Singh and Katheriya speak from experience, with both professionals boasting more than a decade of IT and sales experience in the Middle East and India. Before joining Traveltek, they both worked for Work2Meet (W2M), a hotel consolidator/bedbank based as Business Development Managers. Prior to that, Singh was Business Development Manager for Amadeus India and Katheriya was Head of Sales Middle East for QuadLabs Technologies. Singh also had a stint with QuadLabs as Manager International Business Development, based in India.
