Tour Operator & DMC software - Illusions Online Travel Technology - Articles - Travel Daily ME - Face-to-Face

About Illusions Careers

Illusions Enterprise Illusions OnDemand

Hot off the Press
Illusions Online Articles

Articles	News & Updates \| Advertisements \| Articles \| Video

Travel Daily - Middle East
Magazine Issue: May, 2010

Click above image to zoom

Face-to-Face, Interview with Faisal Memon

Memon explains how the company is branching out into new sectors due to popular demand

Travel Daily: Tell us about the exciting new prospects you encountered at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (4-7 May).
Faisal Memon: This year’s ATM was a pleasant surprise. Usually we exhibit to make sure our branding is out there. We meet with existing customers and normally meet the same people. It’s important for us to be at ATM because it’s our home turf.
The feedback from the Illusions team on the floor at this year’s show was really good – we had a lot of good leads and new prospects, and not just from DMCs and tour operators.
We had a lot of hotels approach us asking if we could provide a system for them and when we thought about it, we realised there is no reason why we can’t do this. We provide a system for tour operators that connects them to suppliers so we can provide a system for hotels that connects to the tour operators and clients.

Travel Daily: Why do you think hotels are coming to Illusions?
Faisal Memon: One of the biggest challenges hotels face is distribution – to both the trade and the consumer. Why? There is not enough technology available to them. I’m not talking about the big chains and the five stars, but the independents and the four stars etc. There isn’t much available to them at a cost-effective price. So, there is no reason why a hotelier cannot use our platform to put in their inventory and distribute it. This is an entirely new system for us, but we can fill the gap in the market.
We can take our big elephant [for tour operators] and scale it down for hoteliers so they can use it for reservations, yield management and distribution etc – all online. We had at least 15 hotels interested in this concept at ATM alone. We are currently looking at our system and how it can be adapted – it’s an exciting development for Illusions.

Travel Daily: What other new avenues are you exploring?
Faisal Memon: Until now, our primary market has been big tour operators inbound and outbound – deals that require substantial outlay for the customer and take a long time to close. The barrier we have seen is price, although we have seen the uptake of technology improving as people realise the long-term benefits.
But what we are noticing is that there are many small- and medium-sized travel companies who need technology and automated systems but they often don’t have a big income for this. Again, we are looking to take our system and scale it down for them to create a new model. We would charge a fee per month and make it really affordable for them.

Travel Daily: Why should SMEs sign up with Illusions?
Faisal Memon: The beauty of it is that we have been browser-based since 2000. We know the internet in and out, but some travel companies are still struggling to move to the web. When it comes to selling online, most of them really don’t have a clue. But we have done the hard work and have created an enterprise system they can use. All we need to do is scale it down and make it available to the masses.

Travel Daily: Geographically, what trends are you noticing in terms of demand for your technology?
Faisal Memon: It’s a real mixture – we are commanding a lot of attention from around the world. In the Middle East, the action is in Libya and Syria – two amazing places that have been locked away from the world for years due to the fear factor, sanctions and terrorism issues, etc.
However, things are changing and tourism is playing a major role in each country.
We have already started looking at these areas. Jordan is also strong for us and Egypt is looking at coming back strongly. We have also had some amazing feedback from tour operators in the India Ocean, as well as Sri Lanka, which is great, as they are close to home. Eastern Europe is also on the map as more countries become part of the EU.

About Faisal Memon
Faisal Memon, often dubbed the ‘Master Illusionist’, is the driving force behind Illusions Online. The Dubai-born entrepreneur is a self-confessed techno geek and admits that he has “always been into technology”. In fact, at the age of 19, tech-savvy Memon had already set up a thriving business from his bedroom developing business software. One of his biggest breaks came in 1999 when he moved to London and was instrumental in developing an inbound tour operating system for a travel wholesaler – a system he moved online one year later.
“It was obvious to me then that the internet was going to be the future and so was the fact that I had to be focused on travel technology,” he says.
This is when Illusions Online was really born. By 2002, the fi rm had opened an office in Melbourne, Australia and at the end of that year the business brought him to Dubai, where a booming market was “awaiting some serious changes”, according to Memon. Illusions Online now boasts clients across five continents and is headquartered in Dubai Media City, employing more than 30 staff .

About Illusion online
Illusions Online is a global travel technology company providing online enterprise travel solutions software for tour operators and DMCs. Recent client additions in Dubai include Lawand Tourism and SNTTA. The solutions automate travel companies and provide consumers with a simple and cost-eff ective way to book travel. Services comprise complete product management, pricing/tariff and internet booking engines for travel agencies (B2B) and consumers (B2C), dynamic packaging, CRM, XML/web services integration capabilities with partners and suppliers and a reporting and business intelligence framework.
Illusions’ system enables the distribution of products to the travel trade and consumers effi ciently with contractual changes, off ers and new products on sale delivered quickly.

Quick Links:

TTG - Middle East,
Automation for the people
Magazine Issue: June, 2010