London, UK, 5 Nov 2014 –The travel industry is ready to embrace wearable tech if interest in its wearable devices and apps at this year’s World Travel Market are anything to go by.
The global technology company, Sabre, has been showcasing potential uses and applications for wearable devices in travel, including its own prototype Google Glass Flight Search app, which can find flights based on a user’s simple voice command: “Ok Glass, find a flight from London Heathrow to the beach in December”.
Wearable technology is fast becoming a prominent means of customer notification and communication; it is currently a £400m industry and is expected to reach £7.5bn by 2018. With 19% of Brits already “willing to use a wearable device that monitors location[1], and 53% of Generation Y “excited” about the future of wearables[2], it’s a trend Sabre is seriously exploring.
Joakim Everstin, Head of Innovation at Sabre Travel Network, Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “We’re only beginning to understand the potential for wearables but there are already some very obvious uses for it. Google recently said Android users check their phones on average 125 times a day. Many of these are quick glances but it’s these very interactions that smart watches will start providing a better experience for –by allowing airlines or travel agents to quickly communicate with the traveller en route. There’s a real opportunity for travel companies to own the traveller once their trip has started, and if they don’t do it, someone else will. You need to disrupt yourself first or face being disrupted.”
With technology and gadgets already a critical part of travel,Sabre believes wearable technologies – such as smart watches and heads-up devices like Google Glass – could bring about real step-change in the way businesses market and sell travel, and the way consumers experience it. By creating the flight search app, Sabre hopes to inspire the industry about the possibility of using new devices in travel.
About Sabre
Sabre® Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) is a leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism industry. Sabre’s software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, such as passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, and flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, processing over $100 billion of estimated travel spend in 2013 by connecting travel suppliers to their most valued customers, the business traveler. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates offices in approximately 60 countries around the world.
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[1] Rackspace, June 2013 [2] PwC, The Wearable Future, October 2014