Akbar Travels of India Pvt. Ltd. has renewed a multi-year content and technology agreement with Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), a 6technology provider to the global travel industry, and engaged new solutions to enhance online services and drive operational efficiencies as it accelerates global growth.
An established player in India and the Middle East with a quickly expanding global footprint, driven by the addition of overseas operations in the United States and Southeast Asia, Akbar is pushing both domestic and overseas growth.
โAkbar Travels has been working with Sabre for more than two decades, during which time our relationship has grown even stronger,โ commented Mr. K.V. Abdul Nazar, Chairman & Managing Director of Akbar Travels of India. โNow we are looking forward to leveraging Sabreโs new technologies to help us grow further globally.โ
India is expected to be the third largest market globally by 2031, after the United States and China, and UNWTO predicts that it will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Foreign tourist arrivals into India are also on the rise with double-digit year on year growth recorded in the first quarter of 2016.
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โIndia is poised on the edge of vast growth. Already one of the fastest expanding outbound travel markets in the world, it presents a major opportunity for travel companies. But it also presents a challenge: a rapidly evolving landscape which even established players, like Akbar, must navigate and adapt to stay ahead,โ commented Roshan Mendis, senior vice president for Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific.
โFor example today weโre starting to see a notable shift to online bookings in India, particularly for flights and accommodations. Thatโs why we recommended Akbar use Sabre APIs to enhance the whole online shopping experience and start driving more revenue from this channel, leveraging Sabreโs global network of rich content to meet evolving outbound travel demands,โ Mendis added.
A recent Sabre survey found that the average time to perform a manual exchange on a simple ticket itinerary was 14 minutes. Using Sabre Automated Exchanges, this time is reduced to three minutes. For every 50 tickets exchanged with Automated Exchanges, one full day of manpower can be saved.
Sabre has had offices in India since 1994.