Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, and its Commercial Organisation in Saudi Arabia hosted the Amadeus Annual Customer Event in three regions in the Kingdom. These events were organised to reward Amadeus’ top customers and in recognition of the support granted by all customers.
The continuing success of Amadeus in serving the country’s travel agency community was highlighted at the 2007 Amadeus Top Travel Agents Awards ceremony held at Al Qaser Ballroom, at Jeddah Hilton, on March the 25th, followed by two additional events at Sultan Ballroom, Faisaliah Hotel (Riyadh) on March the 27th and at Okaz Ballroom, Le Gulf Meridien ( Al-Khobar) on March the 28th. The most relevant customers of the three regions gathered with leading travel agencies, airlines and hotel’ representatives as well as with officials from Jeddah’s IATA Head Office.
Productivity and recognition awards and trophies were distributed to the winners in each region, while guests were entertained by the Raffle Draws and gifts were offered to all the invitees.
Amadeus was represented by a group of top managers led by Sari Vähäkoski, Amadeus Director Markets Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and Middle East & Africa, who took the opportunity to congratulate and thank the travel agents for their loyal support. “Ours is a long term strategy in which we intend to work and grow together with the travel agent community in Saudi Arabia,” said Ms. Vähäkoski. “We are very satisfied with the partnership approach that has allowed us achieve substantial growth in 2006. Evidence of this common effort is the fact that Amadeus has become the second biggest travel distribution company in the Kingdom, and the number one in terms of
e-tickets deployed. We have successfully introduced online tools for key customers as well as increased the content of our offering with non air products to help travel agents differentiate and grow their revenues. And our commitment is paying back: Amadeus business in Saudi Arabia grew by more than 38% in 2006, whereas the market increased by 6.30%”.
“Saudi Arabia’s travel agents will continue to receive the highest standard of service and the latest technology from Amadeus. We all acknowledge here that the company’s global reach and local expertise are key to the success of this vast travel agent community”, commented Nashat M. Bukhari, General Manager, Amadeus Saudi Arabia.
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.
Solutions for travel providers
Amadeus distributes content to around 385,000 points of sale located in over 217 markets worldwide through a range of technology solutions. For airlines Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution (CMS) is the first new generation IT platform seen by the airline industry for 30 years, allowing airlines to unlock the full value of each traveller and turn their passengers into customers. Some 150 airlines use Amadeus Altéa Reservation (Sell) as their sales and reservation system – among these are world class airlines including British Airways, Qantas, Finnair, United Airlines and South African Airways who have also contracted Amadeus Altéa Inventory (Plan) and Amadeus Altéa Departure Control (Fly) system.
Solutions for travel sellers
The Amadeus system allows close to 84,000 travel agencies locations and more than 27,170 airline offices to make bookings on some 500 airlines. It provides access to nearly 73,000 hotel properties and 27 car rental companies serving close to 35,700 locations.
More than 250,000 active points of sale around the world use the Amadeus Selling Platform (Vista), the world's first browser-based point of sale platform that allows travel professionals to focus on selling travel and developing customer relations instead of just making bookings.
Over 70 of the world’s leading airlines use the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite to power over 250 websites in more than 80 markets.
Solutions for corporations
In e-commerce, Amadeus is the global leader in online travel technology and corporate travel management solutions. It services travel agencies in 90 countries, and powers the websites of over 1,000 corporations and more than 70 airlines and hotels. Amadeus e-Travel Management is an online travel booking solution to help corporations manage their travel policy more efficiently. Both Amadeus and its partners enable corporations to integrate all the elements of their global travel programmes, into one easy-to-use and easy-to-administrate solution. Customers include Altria, Cemex, Daimler Chrysler, Ericsson, Nestlé and Thales.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 76 countries covering more than 217 markets.
The company is owned by WAM Acquisition, whose shareholders are BC Partners, Cinven, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa. Amadeus employs over 7,600 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus’ revenue for the twelve months ended 31 December 2006 was EUR2.683m.
More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com
