Sabre Corporation has established an enhanced partnership with Shiji Distribution Solutions to better connect hoteliers to the lucrative, yet complex, Chinese travel ecosystem.
While the Chinese travel market is one of the biggest in the world, Chinese travellers have traditionally been hard to reach for many hoteliers. This expanded relationship between Sabre and Shiji will open up further access for hoteliers, through the Sabre SynXis hospitality platform, to the channels Chinese travellers typically use to search and book their trips across corporate and leisure segments.
Sabre has previously worked with Shiji to connect hoteliers to selected channels within China including the popular WeChat Booking Engine, as well as Fliggy and Meituan’s travel platforms.
Both companies have now reached a much broader agreement to enable Sabre hotel partners to connect to a wider range of travel agents, OTAs, TMCs and wholesalers across the Chinese marketplace.
Sabre’s hospitality partners will have the power to connect to these channels through Sabre Channel Connect, which simplifies and automates distribution of a hotel’s offers, rates and availability, and is designed to reach hotel guests where they shop.
Anson Lau, managing director, Shiji, said the partnership will “support hoteliers to capture recovery and grow their brand by making the most of the significant opportunities presented by the Chinese marketplace”.
He added: “The additional connections available to Sabre through Shiji will, on one hand, help Sabre’s hotel partners build brand awareness in Greater China, driving bookings from Chinese travellers and, on the other hand, help Shiji’s robust network of travel agent partners gain instant access to Sabre’s hotel customers.”
Qatar Airways has reinforced its commitment to combat illegal trafficking of wildlife and its products by extending its participation in the USAID ROUTES (Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species) Partnership.
As a founding member of the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce, Qatar Airways signed the Buckingham Palace Declaration in March 2016, aimed at taking real steps to shut down the routes exploited by traffickers of the illegal wildlife trade to move their products.
Subsequently in May 2017, the airline went on to sign the first MoU with the ROUTES Partnership. In May 2019, Qatar Airways became the world’s first airline to achieve certification to the Illegal Wildlife Trade Assessment which verifies that the airline has procedures, staff training and reporting protocols in place to combat the smuggling of illegal wildlife products.
Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “The illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade threatens our global biodiversity, and poses a risk to health and safety, particularly in marginalised communities. We are taking measures to disrupt this illicit trade in order to conserve biodiversity and safeguard our delicate ecosystems.
“We remain committed with other aviation industry leaders to emphasise our zero-tolerance policy towards illegal trafficking of wildlife and its products, and we join the ROUTES Partnership in saying – ‘It Doesn’t Fly With Us’. We will continue to work with our stakeholders to raise awareness and improve detection of illegal wildlife activities to protect these creatures that we value.”