Sabre Corporation and Internova Travel Group this week launched what executives from the company are expecting to be as pivotal to the industry as when “Southwest announced their first electronic ticket” in 1994. The companies partnered to create Sabre Red Launchpad, a consumer-grade graphic interface that intends to make using the GDS (and booking air, in particular) much easier for new travel advisors and independent contractors.
The program debuted on Monday and is available to all 5,500 agencies and 70,000 advisors within Internova’s brands—which includes ALTOUR, Global Travel Collection and Travel Leaders Network, among others. In the coming months, Sabre will launch the program globally to agencies and advisors outside of Internova. Currently, Internova advisors can hop and book basic air, hotel and car itineraries available through Sabre, as well as Internova’s own hotel, cruise and DMC programs.
Separately, Amadeus acquired Voxel, a provider of electronic invoice and B2B payment solutions for travel sellers, hotels and other travel players. This move, according to Amadeus, will support the company’s “vision to deliver a smooth travel payment experience.” It will also complement Amadeus’ payments business, Outpayce, by enhancing its existing travel sellers’ product suite, while expanding in the hospitality segment.
2024’s Top Trends
The four trends driving booking decisions, according to American Express Travel’s “2024 Global Travel Trends Report” are transformative, “once-in-a-lifetime trips;" solo travel; last-minute bookings and unstructured itineraries; and trips planned around athletic events. In addition, 84 percent of respondents plan to spend more or the same amount of money on travel in 2024 compared to last year. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of respondents said they care more about having the right travel experience than about the cost of the trip.
While not listed as one of the top four trends, culinary-themed travel does remain popular. For those who consider themselves “foodies,” Dutch lifestyle magazine Dailybase analyzed Tripadvisor data to uncover the number of five-star reviews for eateries in European cities. Topping the list with nearly 3,000 five-star reviews is London.
The remainder of the top 10 includes: Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Lisbon, Berlin, Prague and Milan.
Women in the Spotlight
With March being Women’s History Month, many companies are announcing news regarding their female leaders, new programs designed for women and educational services for learning more about women-run businesses.
Of note, WeTravel is hosting on March 26 its third annual Women+ In Travel event, sharing the stories of four women who are making a positive impact on travelers, local communities and the travel industry through their meaningful work on the ground. In line with this year’s International Women's Day theme, “accelerating gender equality through economic empowerment,” WeTravel is inviting travel professionals to join the Women+ in Travel: Learning from Women+ on the Ground virtual community gathering. The event seeks to recreate the atmosphere of travel professionals coming together at a virtual table to share their unique experiences as women working on the ground in travel and empower others.
In addition, recognizing the lack of suitable options for mature women wanting to explore the world, travel social network ASmallWorld has launched The Solo Cruise Company—a cruise company that creates itineraries specifically catered towards solo female travelers aged 55-plus. The launch is announced close on the heels of a study by JourneyWoman, which discovered that women over 50 are empowered, prefer to travel alone and are seeking adventurous experiences in bucket-list destinations.
The company has partnered with Silversea Cruise, Seabourn and AmaWaterways and will be offering two types of experiences: “Fully Hosted Journeys” and “Featured Cruise-Only Journeys.”
Lastly, in celebration of Women’s History Month, home-based travel agency Dream Vacations has honored Amy Madson with the OPAL Award for Women. The award recognizes a female franchise owner who "exemplifies Outstanding Performance and Leadership." The honorees are active in the community and civic organizations and demonstrate leadership within Dream Vacations.
Madson has more than 20 years of experience in the travel industry and is active within the Dream Vacations family. Madson & Associates is part of Dream Vacations’ Circle of Excellence (which makes up the upper echelon of elite sellers of the Dream Vacations franchise network). Personally and professionally, Madson is involved in her community. She uses her network to help drive success with organizations such as the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) Central Florida Chapter, Make-A-Wish, Best Friends Animal Society, Rikki’s Refuge Animal Sanctuaries and other Central Florida charities.
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