EBOLA could be the
biggest threat to travel in
the modern world, says
Dean Bibb, Sabre’s vp for
Eastern Europe, Middle East
and Africa.
In an interview with
TNW on a recent visit to
Johannesburg, Dean said
technology could help travel
agents and corporates in
managing the risk of Ebola
and enhancing a companies’
duty of care policies.
Sabre’s Tripcase, a full
content mobile travel
management platform, allows
travel agents to monitor the
exact whereabouts of every
traveller who has Tripcase
on his or her phone, using
geolocation. Customers
receive flight alerts, weather
delay updates, security
notices and other critical
information before, during and
after travel, allowing agencies
to elevate their service levels
and improve their operational
efficiencies.
Dean also spoke to TNW
about the challenges of being
the third player entering a
well-established market.
“The startup has been a
project, and has allowed us
a lot of creativity. The biggest
challenge is the established
player is the only exposure
many SA agents have had.
What we need to do is to
win hearts and minds by
showing improvement in
bottom line results, in time
saving, in best functionality,
in bringing in experiences and
the enjoyment of travel. More
consumers expect leisure
experiences now, even in
corporate travel.
“South Africa is important in
our African strategy. Africa’s
total GDS market is 35
million segments booked per
year, and South Africa, with
9 million segments booked
per year, is the biggest GDS
market in Africa.”
One of the most important
developments in the travel
agency space for Sabre is
taking agents away from the
‘blue screen’, says Dean.
“The youth now want intuitive
mobile technology. Sabre is
involved in advanced projects
involving wearable technology,
geolocation and very full
content, but this is still in the
early stages.”
The technology used by
and offered to clients by
agencies is one of the
biggest differentiators. The
Sabre Red Workspace allows
any Sabre-using agency to
create an application specific
to its own needs and this
can be fully integrated into
its bookings. “This allows for
great innovation by agencies.
There are over 400 000
Sabre-equipped travel agents
in the world. Last July, we
counted over 500 000 app
downloads from 70 000
users in 112 countries.”
The technology of selfbooking
tools has also
become important. Dean
spoke about Sabre’s selfbooking
tool, GetThere:
“We constantly invest in our
SBT. It’s flexible, suitable for
small agencies and large,
and it has over 300 variable
functions that agencies can
customise. This market is
high touch and GetThere
helps agents follow policy and
stops consultants making
costly mistakes.”
One-on-one with Sabre
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