Sponsored Post: How will the ‘great simplification’ make travel easier for all?

Maher Koubaa, executive vice president travel unit and managing director, EMEA at Amadeus, shines a light on how the vendor sits 'at the heart' of the ecosystem

Travel technology has undoubtedly simplified the way we explore the world.

We use online booking agents to compare prices in an instant and make bookings from anywhere, while mobile apps offer real-time navigation and translation. Ride-sharing and public transit solutions have enhanced local transportation, while virtual tours help travelers plan every detail ahead of arrival.

These new, powerful tools have become commonplace.

Here, I want to explore where this simplification is headed, what is coming next as technology continues to enhance the experience of travel for all.

How can we embed simplicity to make the experience of travel better?

Today, every aspect of how we travel, from planning to the trip itself and the time we spend in a destination, is fundamentally changing due to technology. We are in a time of great transformation.

Where travelers previously had to invest valuable time searching for trip inspiration or speaking to travel agents, a continuous stream of recommendations is now served up through competing social media platforms. As our Travel Dreams research illustrates, travel influencers and celebrities are increasingly important in the inspiration phase of a journey.

This is why we are working with travel companies across the ecosystem to ensure they are a key part of these new sources of inspiration. If you see a destination you like on social media, you will be able to purchase a trip in a few simple clicks. South Korea has seen an explosion in visitors as K-Pop stars dominate feeds, for example, while space travel received a boost as Katy Perry took her huge audience on a Blue Origin trip.

Planning also usually involves searches across ten or more different websites. As outlined in our business travel trends report with Globetrender, new Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) tools will be able to identify, plan and book highly relevant travel using natural language processing, removing the need to trawl. Effortless. Simple.

This is something we are currently offering business travelers. Working with our partners at Accenture and Microsoft, we have integrated an agent within Amadeus Cytric, letting users search for trips aligned with traveler’s preferences and employer’s policies, building a more efficient and cost-effective experience.

Removing friction from the travel experience 

Our Friction Removed research reveals the airport is the most stressful part of a journey for many travelers. But here new technology means traditional processes, like check-in, will change as we know them. Travel documents, including visas, are increasingly organized digitally in-advance, while every step at the airport process - from bag drop to lounge access, boarding and immigration - can now be self-service with biometric identification.

Travelers will be able to arrive ‘ready-to-fly,’ passing simply, seamlessly through the airport and onto the plane. Solutions such as Amadeus Travel Ready mean they will no longer require multiple documents and will be recognized at each step in the journey. If the worst does happen, and your luggage doesn’t arrive, the airline already has a scan of your baggage and can proactively message you, avoiding the need to wait at a lost luggage desk.

All of this is happening today. Our acquisition of Vision-Box, and its integration with our existing airports business, means we have the only truly seamless end-to-end biometric system globally. We are at the forefront of realizing this potential. We are able to deliver a complete experience from booking to arrival at the airport, through border control and boarding. Simplicity.

A great example of this technology coming to life, today, can be found in Dubai, where we recently signed a partnership with the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). The article published by Zawya highlights how, together, we are working to facilitate a city-wide ecosystem for the rapid prototyping of travel tech solutions, further enhancing the capabilities of the emirate as a hub for travel innovation. Building on a well-established collaborative relationship, we will focus on advancing travel technology, enhancing visitor experiences, and strengthening the local tourism ecosystem.

Feeling inspired to purchase? Pay for your experience with a few simple clicks, in whichever currency you prefer, using auto-filling forms to save you from re-entering data time and again. These are the experiences technology enables. Outpayce, an Amadeus company, already provides this capability across all channels for close to 100 airlines, bringing the potential of technology to life.

Ambitions for the future of our industry

Never before have so many technologies been available to us to build the simplicity travelers seek. Public clouds provide the backbone for fast, widespread computing at scale. Robust platforms make data widely available, more organized and better connected. Modular solutions built on open technology provide greater flexibility.

This is all happening at once, right now.

We sit at the heart of the travel ecosystem, that’s why we are well positioned to connect all stakeholders and our role is to understand and embrace the impact and implications of these transformative technologies. We strive to be the technology partner of choice for our customers, helping them deliver on their objectives.

We provide the stability, resilience, and reliability our customers demand, with the inventiveness and imagination they expect, offering support and unlocking the transformation that has long been sought.

By bringing all these technologies together, we can continue to simplify travel for everybody.