Amadeus Tunisia Hosts Strategic Meeting on the Future of Travel
In a context where technological innovation is deeply transforming the travel industry, Amadeus Tunisia, a subsidiary of the Tunisair group, specializing in providing advanced technological solutions for travel and tourism players, organized a strategic meeting around the theme: "The Travel Ecosystem at the Heart of Digital Transformation". The event brought together representatives of Amadeus Tunisia, experts from Amadeus IT Group, and travel agencies to discuss the ongoing changes and solutions that will shape the next stage of the travel industry worldwide.
A Product-Based Strategy with a Focus on Skills and Commercial Evolution
Opening the proceedings, Fakher Ben Saïd, General Manager of Amadeus Tunisia, presented the company's roadmap, based on three pillars: products, training, and commercial offering. He recalled that this strategy involves accelerating the NDC-X standard, increasing the power of robotic solutions, and developing online channels. On the training side, he emphasized the "integration of the Amadeus module into university curricula and the creation of an End-to-End competence center", with the ambition of building a national reservoir of certified skills. On the commercial front, Amadeus Tunisia confirmed its move to package-based pricing, with a discount now calculated in stages according to the objectives achieved by its partner travel agencies.
Strengthened Partnership with Industry Players
For Ahmed Bettaieb, President of the FTAV, this dynamic must be based on expanded collaboration: "The goal is to establish a true partnership that brings added value to the travel industry. The FTAV's technicians are fully committed to this approach," he declared at the opening of the debates.
The Evolution of the Profession and the Impact of AI at the Heart of the Debates
During his intervention, Jamel Chandoul, Vice President - Travel Sellers META & EMEA Partner Markets of Amadeus IT Group, recalled that the pandemic played a major accelerating role: "Covid-19 accelerated the transformation of the sector and the behavior of travelers." He emphasized that customers now demand a "frictionless" experience, particularly in airports where the level of stress is high, increased personalization, and total transparency, while AI is becoming a major investment for Amadeus and an essential lever for managing market fragmentation.
Fabrice Pelissier, Director of Innovation and Knowledge Management at Amadeus IT Group, insisted on the need to develop more responsible travel, with "carbon footprint display" and the design of ethical offers. He also recalled that AI "accelerates the innovation cycle" by allowing for rapid validation of ideas and prototypes.
Haythem El Mir, a cybersecurity specialist and General Manager of Keystone, warned against emerging challenges: "The key challenge of the future is to establish total digital trust." The expert emphasized that AI is now used as much to detect fraud as to carry out cyberattacks, estimating that it constitutes "an obligation that is imposed, and not a choice".
Between Opportunity and Threat: The Vision of Agencies
During an exchange of experiences with Tunisian travel agencies, Khaled Drira, General Manager of Active Travel, estimated that AI represents a decisive turning point: "The agency sector is facing a real threat, as AI can potentially replace traditional expertise and advice," he warned, emphasizing, however, that it constitutes "an opportunity that increases team performance", refocusing the role of the agent on human relationships and customer loyalty.
Marwen Razgallah, General Manager of Spring Travel Services, an agency that has integrated digital technologies from its inception, estimated that the complete digitalization of the customer journey remains hindered in Tunisia, due in particular to the absence of a support ecosystem at the regulatory or banking level.
Innovation, AI, and Responsible Travel: The Solutions Advanced by Amadeus
The Amadeus teams took the opportunity of the presence of the main travel agencies in Tunisia to present the ongoing innovations, notably through Myriam Soukouna, Products & Solutions Manager - Amadeus IT Group, who explained the three major axes of digitalization: customer experience, process automation, and connectivity. She obtained particular attention in unveiling Amadeus Hey, the new all-in-one intelligent platform capable of interacting with travelers before, during, and after their trip.
Towards a More Integrated and Agile Ecosystem
This meeting confirmed that Amadeus wishes to concretely support the evolution of the sector in Tunisia, by betting on technology, strengthening skills, and modernizing economic models. Digital transformation - now unavoidable - will have to be built in close partnership between agencies, institutions, and technology, to meet the new expectations of travelers and consolidate the competitiveness of the national market.
