FERNANDO CUESTA, executive director, Middle East & Africa, Amadeus, gives TTN an overview of the Amadeus product and marketing strategy within the Middle East.
What is your strategy in this region?
The Middle East is a strategic region for Amadeus due to its travel industry’s high demanding profile, its important growth and its future positioning in the worldwide arena. Amadeus has been heavily investing in the Middle East for more than a decade and is today the only GDS with presence in every market in the region with local professionals which provide the best local service and a solid offering to each of the countries we serve.
Amadeus has defined a clear and unique strategy based not only in the GDS (travel distribution) services but also as an IT provider to the travel industry. These are the roots of its leadership in the region from January 2009 in both arenas: GDS and IT. The Amadeus combination of GDS and IT provider allows our partners, travel agencies and airlines, to have the technology advantage to streamline their business and successfully compete in an increasingly demanding environment for the benefit of the end user.
Our leadership is based on the sustained confidence and trust by our partners, both travel agents and airlines – This leadership was recently crowned by a 10-years exclusive distribution deal with 13 AACO carriers.
How has growth been recently?
Bookings in the Middle East have dropped in Q1 2009. Before that, we had seen a sustained 10 per cent growth year-on-year, but now and for the foreseeable future we expect it to grow around one per cent only.
Nevertheless, we have reasons to be optimistic, since the Middle East as a region is likely to rebound at a faster pace than the US or Europe’s travel sectors as they are more dependent on other economies. Paradoxically, the economic downturn and factors like the swine flu might play in favour of the travel industry in the Middle East. Why? The region’s destinations – safe and sophisticated- and a solid and well established travel infrastructure will appeal to European and American travellers, while local holidaymakers may stay closer to home.
Times of crisis are times of opportunity. And the region’s travel industry can greatly benefit from this and further develop and strengthen.
Globally, the downturn is there, but the travel distribution industry is resilient. As in past crises, because it is essential, travel will continue and eventually pick up. To weather the downturn, travel professionals and providers should review existing resources and engage the tools to ensure they capitalise on every single opportunity for returns. Amadeus can help here, as content, reach and technology are critical to enhance revenues and reduce cost.
What was the feedback regarding the ATM seminars (sponsored by TTN)?
The seminar programme gave us the opportunity to further share the challenges and opportunities with our partners in the Middle East and Africa region both from the airline and travel agency fronts. My presentation focused on Amadeus’ technology innovations and I was very pleased to see that the audience wanted additional details and explanations on how Amadeus is helping the travel industry in Middle East with next-generation solutions which are the result of sustained investment in technology and the region.
Any new offices in the region?
We have recently opened new offices in Syria and Yemen. Lebanon is the next step in our list. Our reach is by far the widest in the region and we are committed to continue our effort here in terms of investment, customer support and launch of cutting-edge technology to further grow hand in hand with our partners in these markets.