Business Travel
businesswire | August 03, 2023
AlertMedia, the world’s leading provider of threat intelligence, emergency communication, and travel risk management solutions, today launched an integration with Concur Travel. The integration allows joint AlertMedia and Concur Travel customers the ability to automatically sync travel data from Concur® Travel into AlertMedia Travel Risk Management, providing travel risk and security teams a real-time view of employees’ locations while traveling for work along with a powerful suite of tools to prepare employees ahead of business trips, monitor emerging travel risks, and respond quickly to keep travelers out of harm’s way.
“The volume of business trips continues to grow, and more trips mean more risk for organizations—for the traveler and the business itself,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO of AlertMedia. “Our integration with Concur Travel provides organizations a seamless, unified interface designed to help minimize travel-related risks, rapidly communicate critical information, and protect their most valuable assets—their people—in a world that is constantly changing.”
Available to customers worldwide, the AlertMedia turnkey integration with Concur Travel drastically reduces the time required to identify, correlate, and respond to travel risks that may impact active trips or upcoming trips. Additional benefits include:
Frictionless travel data management: Unify travel safety and risk management workflows within a single pane of glass to enable a faster, more consistent response.
Accurate, non-invasive location monitoring: Know where your traveling employees are at all times and their proximity to emerging risks with the AlertMedia mobile app and powerful mapping features.
Automatic, multichannel notifications to at-risk travelers: Accelerate response times to critical events with automated, multichannel notifications sent directly to impacted travelers or security teams.
AlertMedia Travel Risk Management is now available in the SAP Concur App Center.
About AlertMedia
AlertMedia helps organizations protect their people and business through all phases of an emergency. Our award-winning threat intelligence, emergency communication, and travel risk management solutions help companies of all sizes identify, respond to, and recover from critical events faster and with greater confidence. AlertMedia supports critical communication for thousands of leading businesses—including DHL, JetBlue, Coca-Cola Bottling, In-N-Out, and Walmart—in more than 130 countries.
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Destination and Tourism
prnewswire | August 18, 2023
Global luxury travel network Virtuoso reveals when, where and how the affluent are traveling for the remainder of 2023. Respected as an industry-leading trend forecaster, Virtuoso gathered data and insights from its network of travel advisors, preferred partners and high net worth/ultra-high net worth clientele based on its data warehouse of more than $63.6 billion in transactions and an ongoing series of surveys. The results were shared at luxury travel's leading event, the 35th annual Virtuoso Travel Week. Running August 12-18 in Las Vegas at Bellagio Resort & Casino, ARIA Resort & Casino and Vdara Hotel & Spa, the event is recognized as the Fashion Week of luxury travel for its presentation of the latest news and trends affecting the industry before thousands of industry leaders, as well as the multi-million dollars in travel sales it drives.
The lead story: travel shows no signs of slowing down, despite inflation and global economic challenges. In the first half of 2023, Virtuoso reported a 69 percent uptick in sales versus 2019 numbers, with hotel and cruise segments leading the way, up 173 percent and 122 percent respectively.
Luxury hotels in the U.S. have seen a 57 percent increase compared to 2019, while luxury international hotels have soared to a 58 percent uptick.
Future leisure travel sales leading into 2024-2025 are equally strong. When comparing sales leading into 2020 from 2019, considered to be luxury travel's highwater mark, 2023's future sales are pacing 107 percent higher. Future sales for 2023 into 2024 are also pacing 44 percent higher than they were in 2022 leading into 2023.
Likewise, 2023 future cruise sales are 44 percent higher than they were in 2022 and 106 percent higher versus 2019.
Travelers are heading abroad in record numbers. Paris, London and Florence ranking among the most-booked cities this fall. When it comes to the hottest travel trends, Virtuoso advisors have noted continued demand for exclusive-use experiences, such as private aviation and yachting along with itineraries that incorporate next-level stimulation and engagement (think scientific expeditions in Antarctica). The wellness sector continues to thrive, with 94 percent of travelers incorporating self-care into their travels and a rising interest in programs that incorporate creative and performance art. Iceland has emerged as a wellness destination, as has Thailand, as travel to Asia returns. What hasn't changed, but is even more pronounced following the pandemic, is the importance travelers place on genuine, personalized service and their willingness to invest in collaborating with a travel advisor to arrange VIP treatment and access, to have reassurance, accountability and save time, and to ultimately have the experience they want.
An overview of the information is below, with complete findings here.
Booking analysis is based on transactional data sourced from Virtuoso's travel agency members; wellness and culinary travel insights were based on surveys conducted with Virtuoso advisors; and sustainability findings are the result of a recent in-depth analysis of Virtuoso partners resulting in its Virtuoso Impact Report, Sustainable Travel, 2023.
AboutVirtuoso Travel
Virtuoso is the leading global network of travel agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel, with more than 20,000 travel advisors. We partner with over 1,800 of the world’s best companies such as hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, and more. Our advisors use their personal connections and firsthand expertise to craft bespoke trips for clients, including unique experiences, special values, complimentary perks, VIP treatment and rare access.
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Destination and Tourism
globenewswire | July 24, 2023
Treasure Global Inc an innovative technology solutions provider, today announced that the Company has signed a collaboration agreement with VCI Global Limited (NASDAQ: VCIG) (“VCI Global”), a multi-disciplinary consulting group focused on business and technology, for the development of an artificial intelligence (“AI”)-powered travel platform as a new offering for travellers in Malaysia.
VCI Global has selected TGL to develop the AI-powered platform to function as a high-tech portable concierge App, utilizing the latest advanced technologies to provide relevant travel recommendations in real time. By leveraging advanced AI-powered solutions, the app will aim to revolutionize the travel experience, assisting users in planning travel and related activities, such as suggesting places to explore, dining during their travels in Malaysia and to improve on seamless bookings for flights, hotels and car rentals. The platform is designed to break down language barriers as well, with advanced translation functions.
As part of the agreement, VCI Global will pay a service fee to TGL worth USD$1 million. TGL will develop, design and produce the integrated software platform and provide ongoing maintenance for the AI-powered travel app, which is targeted to launch next year. TGL and VCI Global will share ownership and profits generated from this collaboration on a 50:50 basis.
“We believe that global tourism has returned to its pre-pandemic levels, and we are well-placed to capitalize on the post-pandemic 'revenge travel' phenomenon through our collaboration with VCI Global. Our partnership to develop this app will leverage our combined resources and expertise, namely VCI’s technology experience with TGL’s software development skills, extensive user base and connections with merchants and underscores VCI’s trust in TGL's capabilities. The Malaysian digital economy is projected to grow to USD$34 billion by 2025, of which USD$8 billion1 is expected to be related to online travel-related activities. Our AI-powered travel platform will be a catalyst for growth, unlocking tremendous opportunities in the online travel sector. TGL’s unwavering focus on cutting-edge technologies and strategic partnerships solidifies its position as a trailblazer in the travel industry, strongly positioned to meet the evolving needs of modern travellers,” said Sam Teo, Chief Executive Officer of Treasure Global.
“As in our previous collaborations, I am humbled that once again we are able to play our part by offering our expertise in enhancing the landscape of the travel industry as global tourism migrates itself to high-tech platforms to maximise travellers’ experience. I am very confident that this AI-powered travel platform will act as a growth catalyst for Malaysia’s tourism industry. As these (tourist) arrivals numbers are still below the pre-Covid level, we strongly believe that visitors to Malaysia will increase exponentially in the near future, especially as travel is made easier,” said Dato’ Victor Hoo, Group Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VCI Global.
About VCI Global Limited
VCI Global is a multi-disciplinary consulting group with key advisory practices in the areas of business and technology. The Company provides business and boardroom strategy services, investor relation services, and technology consultancy services. Its clients range from small-medium enterprises and government-linked agencies to publicly traded companies across a broad array of industries. VCI Global operates solely in Malaysia, with clients predominantly from Malaysia, but also serves some clients from China, Singapore, and the US.
About Treasure Global Inc
Treasure Global is a Malaysian solutions provider developing innovative technology platforms. Treasure Global has developed two technology solutions: the ZCITY App, a unique digital ecosystem that transforms and simplifies the e-payment experience for consumers, while simultaneously allowing them to earn rewards; and TAZTE, a digital F&B management system providing merchants with a one-stop management and automated solution to digitalize their businesses. Treasure Global also acts as a master franchiser in SEA for popular restaurant chains, while providing them with the TAZTE solution. As of March 31, 2023, ZCITY had over 2,400,000 registered users.
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