‘Customer is the king’
Serving the travel industry for the past two decades, Kathryn Wallington, Country Manager—UAE, Travelport, shares how she realised her fascination for travel, to explore the world and its many cultures, and her vision and growth plan for the company.
Kathryn Wallington took the reins as Country Manager UAE for Travelport over a year ago and works with a highly-talented team to deliver best-in-class technical solutions that meet the evolving needs of their local customers. She states, “We truly believe our success is defined by our customers’ success. So, we are always focused on helping them achieve their goals and identify new growth opportunities in the market.”
Riding high on success
Starting off her career in 1990 at Thomas Cook Retail as a Sales Consultant, Wallington quickly worked her way up through various levels of management including team leader, Customer Service Manager and Branch Manager. She reminiscences, “During this period, I had many opportunities to travel the world, which fulfilled my dream as a young girl to work in the travel industry. Following this, I joined Travelport to develop my experience within the travel industry in 2005. I was interested in GDSs and technology, them to success in the UK and across the region. About 14 years later, I accepted the role of Country Manager for the UAE.”
Pursuit of passion
From an early age, she wanted to get into the travel industry. “I was fascinated by travel and wanted the opportunity to travel the world and experience new cultures. I feel lucky to have been able to achieve that goal. It’s often said that it is difficult to find a job that you love, but I did, and I feel privileged,” she happily shares.
Remarkable achievements
available today has enabled us to transform how the industry is engaging with travellers. I believe that one of the biggest changes is that travellers do not want to just book a flight any longer. They are looking for an enhanced experience, and for us to be able to meet their demands, we must adopt technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, big data and mobile applications.”
Our investments are focused in key areas that differentiate us like our industry-leading travel content; our search, merchandising and shopping capabilities
Working in the UK and Middle East
In her words, “the biggest similarity between the industry in the UK and the UAE is the willingness to embrace technology. Similar to the UK, the UAE travel agents are plan. She stated, “We continue to reap the benefits of our transformation from a GDS to a travel commerce platform and remain well-positioned for long-term growth given our commercial wins and the ongoing investments we’re making. Our investments are focused in the key areas that differentiate us like our industry-leading travel content; our search, merchandising and shopping capabilities; and our leading mobile, data and payments solutions. We are also proud to have been the first travel commerce platform to be certified by IATA as a ‘Level