Raymond Vrijenhoek, Vice President of the Sabre Travel Network caught up with Antono Fellino, Vice President of Retail and E-commerce for Dnata, to hear about his observations of the future of travel landscape in the Middle East.

Dnata is a travel agency originally located in Dubai, and now 60 years later it operates across Europe, the Middle East and India. Antonio tells us that although online purchases are growing and accounts for 50% of their bookings, the retail business is still crucial for them. This is due to people purchasing complicated products for large adult groups of families which requires a personal consultation.

Antonio then went on to say how Dnata are ensuring their e-commerce business is fully optimised and are fortunate enough to have different teams specifically looking into new technology, analytical data, robotics and voice messaging.

Antonio sees the Middle East travel landscape growing, and Dnata are investing heavily to make their business truly omni-channel in order to leverage their retail footprint and expertise. In the Middle East, customer service will continue to be absolutely paramount, with customers wanting that trust factor and to be able to speak to somebody. This is very different to what is seen in the traditional meditational more mature travel market.

Watch the full session here:

You can hear more on this topic at this year’s ATM Dubai. See what’s on here.