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Illusions looks at the bigger picture
Feb 9, 2009

Arabian Travel News in an interview with Illusions CEO Faisal Memon about the company’s niche product and its strategy to attract more business from the region’s travel trade Travel operator business solutions specialist Illusions Online is looking to secure deals with top travel companies across the region having ended 2008 with a major coup.

The Dubai-based firm, which offers the tour operator system Travellusions to companies across the globe, recently signed a deal with Dubai’s Al Rais Travel, to provide all if its software solutions and help integrate its online offering.

To build on the momentum of this sign-up, Illusions CEO faisal Memon is on a mission to score more big names, but will be choosing his partners carefully, he told ATN.

“It’s both an advantage and a disadvantage for us that a lot of travel companies out here haven’t been prioritising the sort of online service solutions that we offer,” he mused.

“In the short term it’s been good because what we do is so specialised we have been able to create a specific niche in the market for ourselves — but the downside is that we really do have to be careful when it comes to who we align ourselves with.”

He continued: “It’s absolutely no use to us to partner with a company that thinks we can deliver a business solution like it’s a commodity. What we do is more complicated and time consuming than that — the benefits are enormous but we have to be sure that we are aligned with a company that we are satisfied we can deliver a solution that matches the levels of our own high standards.”

Memon conceded that initial consultation periods and business analysis with travel companies could be slow going, but was adamant that the practice was necessary. “It is not our way to implement a quick fix,” he stressed.

“Through us our clients will enjoy complete business automation that is also customisable. We don’t look at just one section, we build a platform structure for all aspects of the business; we can facilitate one system to cover the entire business from pricing, reservations, operations, bookings — the whole lot — so it can make a massive difference.”

Memon added that he expected increasing numbers of travel companies across the UAE to gradually embrace the idea of implementing technology solutions.

“Companies in this region will see the benefits eventually,” he said, “which is good for us of course because we are already established here. This means we will have the inside track and we can point interested parties in the travel industry to our track record so they can see our quality and what we are all about.”

He added that the agreement with Al Rais Travel was “a good indication” of the stage at which the travel market was at in terms of solutions uptake.
“As a company, they are becoming more technology and web savvy and they recognised the benefits of working with us and we’re really pleased to be aligned with them as well, because of their approach and understanding of how our partnership will work,” he said.

“If you just look at Dubai alone, you can see the speed that things change — and the travel industry is changing by the day.” He stressed that in the current financial climate, it would be the most forward-thinking companies that would do well. “We have a lot of negotiations going on behind the scenes and expect more announcements to be made soon, so it’s a case of watch this space,” Memon concluded.