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ZainTech partners with Mastercard to provide unique AI and Machine Learning data solutions to businesses
Representative Image ZainTech, the one-stop digital solutions powerhouse of Zain Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mastercard to create unique data-driven and innovative solutions for businesses across Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The partnership will help streamline clients’ operations, including enhancing productivity and cost savings. ZainTech and Zain B2B teams across the region are revolutionizing day-to-day business by streamlining their digital transformation journey, making it simpler and more seamless than ever before. The company is offering cutting-edge data solutions, facilitating digital and data-driven decision-making, to achieve clients’ corporate goals and drive growth. Commenting on the collaboration with Mastercard, Andrew Hanna, ZainTech CEO said: “The benefits of sophisticated data to productivity, safety, and cost-savings being driven by AI and machine learning are revolutionizing business processes. This partnership with Mastercard will catalyze the development of unique data solutions from which our enterprise clients will benefit directly.” Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard said: “Artificial Intelligence has become an essential part of building cutting-edge solutions that use data to deliver added value to end-users. We are delighted to support ZainTech, a leading regional digital solutions provider in strengthening its value proposition.” The MENA region is witnessing an acceleration in the application of big data analytics, transforming industrial and enterprise operations. According to advisory firm PwC, the potential contribution of AI to the global economy will peak at almost US$16 trillion by 2030 and the Middle East is expected to accrue approximately 2% of those benefits – equivalent to approximately US$320 billion. Through its collaboration with Mastercard, ZainTech anticipates an accelerated adoption of advanced analytics and AI and machine learning across the MENA region.
OYO to invest in machine learning-powered dynamic pricing
OYO Hotels & Homes has announced that it has acquired Danamica, a Copenhagen-based data science company, with machine learning and business intelligence capabilities, specialised in dynamic pricing. This acquisition is in line with OYO’s continued commitment to the company’s global vacation rentals business through strategic investments in technology products, processes, and people. Earlier in August, the company had committed to invest EUR 300 million (USD 328.94 million) in the vacation homes business in Europe, with a special focus on strengthening the relationship with homeowners and enabling them with the resources, including technology investments, required to deliver chic hospitality experiences. With the acquisition of Danamica, OYO will be able to drive top-line growth by leveraging dynamic pricing across all its brands - OYO Home, Belvilla and DanCenter, all of them already at the forefront of vacation rental pricing in Europe. Additionally, OYO and its real estate partners around the world will benefit using data sciences for improved yield. Starting with Europe, Danamica’s technology innovations will benefit OYO’s global vacation homes business. Commenting on the development, Maninder Gulati, global head of OYO Vacation and Urban Homes and chief strategy officer of OYO Hotels & Homes said: “The acquisition of Danamica will help us be more accurate with pricing, leading to higher efficiencies and yield for our real estate owners and value for money for our millions of global guests, both everyday travellers and city dwellers, that choose an OYO Vacation Homes as their abode.” “OYO and Danamica have a shared understanding of the importance and impact of AI and data science. Like OYO, we recognise the untapped potential in the vacation rental industry that can be fulfilled with a data-driven approach,” said Mads Westberg and Rune Larsen, founders of Danamica. Similar to airlines, and ride-sharing companies, OYO has introduced dynamic pricing in the hospitality industry to create a level-playing ground even for an independent or small hotelier or homeowner.
TripAdvisor launches machine learning tech to auto-select primary photos
TripAdvisor has launched a new feature for primary property photos, which uses machine learning to auto select high-performing images for accommodation listings. Let’s be honest. We judge accounts by its primary photo before we decide to click through. But it’s not because we’re too judgemental. It’s just that first impressions last and with so many ubiquitous accounts online, we just don’t have the time to analyse them all. Now on TripAdvisor, you may have seen those badly taken photos; a slightly blurred selfie in a corridor; a close-up of the bathroom taps at a B&B; or even a picture of a road outside an inn that could be anywhere. These badly taken shots could end up as the primary photo for an accommodation business on TripAdvisor when an owner neglects to choose the proper photo. "79% of TripAdvisor travellers said that photos were important when choosing to book an accommodation" “We know that good photos are a key part in attracting new guests,” said Martin Verdon-Roe, VP B2B hotel product and marketing, TripAdvisor. “According to research, 79% of TripAdvisor travellers said that photos were important when choosing to book an accommodation and in more recent live site testing with partners, we can see that optimised photo selection has been shown to increase user click-through rates.” To help businesses on the platform choose the right photo, TripAdvisor launched a new auto-select feature for primary photos. The update uses advanced machine learning technology to evaluate and select the best available primary photo for the business, considering both professional and traveller photos. There are a number of factors which impact engagement and the tool works by analysing these factors like image resolution, orientation and sharpness, whether there are people in the photo. The machine learning has been programmed to select photos which drive higher levels of engagement from travellers, putting businesses at ease while creating a better-curated gallery on the platform. Verdon-Roe added: “This exciting new feature capitalizes on our strength in machine learning with insights from millions of professional and traveller photos across TripAdvisor to help properties make the best first impression to our global travellers.” Even with the update, users can still manually select their primary photo by opting out of the new auto-select feature at any time via the Management Centre.
OTA Insight to help hotels leverage the power of AI and Machine Learning
I've been impressed by the progress with product and customers OTA Insight has made in 2017...they have been Crushing It! Don't look for them to slowdown anytime soon they have just a secured $20 million round lead by Eight Roads Ventures. OTA Insight is a rocking SaaS business targeting the hospitality sector. They have a cloud based intelligence platform that helps hotels improve revenue (and margin). They do this with real time access to competitor rates, ratings, reviews, channel insights, and demand forecasts. The company says in a press release today that they will leverage the funding to further build out the platform with a focus on machine learning and AI capabilities. "Our customer-first approach has allowed OTA Insight to create a simple-to-use platform that addresses the needs of revenue managers across a broad range of accommodation types," Adriaan Coppens, CEO and co-founder of OTA Insight. The platform boasts more than 16,000 properties in 134 countries as customers. Some of the global and regional-leading hotels that use OTA Insight's platform include: Carlson Rezidor, Hilton, Accorhotels, Louvre, Choice, Best Western, Kimpton, SBE and NH Hotels. For more information on OTA Insight, visit www.otainsight.com.
Cloudbeds hires AI visionaries, Amit Popat and Nikhil Shah
Cloudbeds announced the strategic hiring of AI visionaries Amit Popat, Head of Machine Learning, and Nikhil Shah, Head of Data Science. This move marks a significant investment in artificial intelligence by Cloudbeds, aimed at developing unparalleled applications for the hotel industry and ushering in a new era of what’s possible for hoteliers. Leveraging over a decade of rich, comprehensive data from Cloudbeds’ industry-leading hospitality platform, this step toward integrating intelligence and machine learning into the platform will empower hoteliers to unlock insights and enable automation and real-time recommendations spanning the property’s entire operations. Popat and Shah, both mathematicians who met at the University of Cambridge, bring a wealth of experience in utilizing AI and machine learning to translate advanced analytics into tangible value for hoteliers. Their expertise in applying causal inference to hospitality data, combined with Cloudbeds’ extensive data sets, will position the company at the forefront of technological innovation in this sector. Adam Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of Cloudbeds, commented: "The hospitality industry has long sought a solution to break down departmental silos, enabling revenue, marketing, and operations teams to work together collaboratively to drive profitability across the entire hotel. Amit and Nikhil are two of the brightest minds in AI and ML, and they’re helping Cloudbeds achieve just that. These individuals are scary brilliant, and they know hospitality. All we have to do is give them a place to thrive with the resources they need and plenty of snacks. We are more than excited about the applications this will have for our hotelier customers." Popat is a distinguished machine-learning expert with a remarkable career spanning senior roles at Valtech and London Town Group. He went on to establish his own AI software consultancy firm, where he pioneered cutting-edge AI analytics and marketing solutions for FTSE-250 companies and multinational giants such as easyJet, Shell Energy, and Herbert Smith Freehills. Shah holds a PhD in large-scale computational optimization from Imperial College London. He went on to co-found S-Cube, an award-winning energy tech spin-out from his PhD. Shah has since worked with global industry supermajors such as Chevron, Woodside and Petrobras, spearheading impactful research and practical applications in the upstream energy sector. His capacity for innovation and strategic foresight has led to significant algorithmic advancements for optimizing high-stakes drilling investment decisions. Together, Popat and Shah co-founded the AI analytics and e-marketing platform Hotel Cloud in 2020, an intelligence platform designed to maximize revenue at every stage of the guest journey. Their combined expertise in creating practical applications of data science and machine learning across hospitality management will now fuel Cloudbeds’ vision of developing the industry’s most comprehensive, intelligent platform serving hoteliers.
AI-based project to optimize vessel performance forecasting concludes testing
Maritime technology company Yara Marine Technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) application developers Molflow, and Chalmers University of Technology and social science specialists from Halmstad University and Gothenburg University have collaborated over 3 years to develop and trial an AI-based semi-autonomous voyage planning system. Initiated in August 2020, the Via Kaizen project explores how AI and machine learning can enable more energy-efficient voyage planning for ship operators. Funded by the Swedish Transport Administration Trafikverket, the project utilized pre-existing tools, to enable a higher degree of digitalization and automation in vessel operations. These included Yara Marine’s propulsion optimization system FuelOpt and performance management and vessel data reporting tool Fleet Analytics, as well as Molflow’s vessel modelling system Slipstream. Existing work practices onboard and user needs were analyzed during the design process to ensure the technology facilitated processes and decisions with the greatest impact on energy efficiency. The resulting system was trialed onboard two vessels, a PCTC car carrier operated by UECC and a Rederiet Stenersen product tanker. The wide-ranging results indicated successful energy efficiency optimization based on estimated time of arrival (ETA), with one of the two trial vessels opting to continue using the system. Mikael Laurin, Head of Vessel Optimization at Yara Marine Technologies, said, “The Via Kaizen project speaks directly to where shipping is at the moment — where the intersections of digitalization, decarbonization and crewing determine our success in addressing climate change. The use of AI and machine learning to plan and predict energy-efficient voyages has significance for an industry looking to lower emissions while addressing rising fuel costs. Similarly, new technologies can streamline operations but require collaboration and buy-in from stakeholders across the board, necessitating crew familiarization and training, proactive design, and new corporate strategies. As a result, the insights and information gained from the project carry broader significance for our industry’s future.” The Via Kaizen project demonstrated that incorporating machine-learning algorithms for improved predictive modelling of ship propulsion power can result in more accurate performance forecasting and optimization. It also evidenced the necessity of constructive collaboration between technology developers and users, as well as between ship operators and their customers. Joakim Möller, CEO at Moflow, said, “The Via Kaizen project afforded an invaluable opportunity to explore and advance industry understandings of the role big data, data handling and model development can play in supporting lower emission strategies and maximized fuel efficiencies. Recent advances in vessel data tracking and analysis, weather information, and more can be used to gauge where operations have the potential to be streamlined. As the maritime industry seeks to utilize good data to inform decision-making, AI and machine learning can play a key role in processing and simplifying available data for clear, actionable outcomes.” Throughout the trials, crew played a key role in determining the success of energy efficient voyages. This shows the necessity giving ship crews and management every opportunity to engage with, understand and embrace the value of AI-powered ship operation support technology in assisting daily operations onboard and ashore. Martin Viktorelius of Halmstad University said, “Maritime’s ability to successfully decarbonize is dependent on its highly skilled workforce, and necessitates that we invest in creating seafarer support for digitalization and decarbonization. Clean technologies must prioritize intuitive, user-friendly interfaces and understand existing operations to maximize crew support and uptake of AI-powered solutions. The Via Kaizen project engaged with crew to explore and establish key parameters that crew indicated hindered their support of voyage efficiency.” Simon Larsson from Gothenburg University said, “The Via Kaizen project documented potential challenges to implementing energy efficient voyages — notably, the impact of crew training and corporate processes that either facilitated or hindered the effective use of AI tools to improve efficiency. These findings are not specific to the project and have wider ramifications for an industry seeking advanced solutions to rapidly reduce emissions. While crew training will afford a much-needed bridge to build understanding and accelerate support for AI-powered voyage efficiency solutions among seafarers, it is just as important that we ensure effective channels of communication with management and corporate processes.” Following the conclusion of this project, additional funding has been secured from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova to further explore a selection of its findings.
Egencia enhances travel approval with first of its kind AI recommendation tool
Egencia has launched a unique recommendation tool that uses machine learning to automatically generate personalised settings for their customers’ travel approval processes. The new tool will significantly simplify and reduce the time that it takes for companies to set up travel approval workflows on Egencia’s platform. In addition, the company announced future plans to integrate with the Slack enterprise messaging app, adding a new channel for quick and easy travel approvals. Setting up travel approval processes can be complex and time-consuming. Corporate travel managers must configure multiple variables across all travel options and different locations. Egencia’s travel approval recommendation tool generates tailored recommendations for approval workflows that can be implemented immediately across online, offline and mobile app bookings. The approval recommendation tool analyses a company’s needs based on industry, geographical location, company size, projected annual travel spend and the number of travellers. A machine learning model, built with data from over 65,000 approval workflow combinations used by thousands of customers around the world, finds best practices that match the company’s profile. The result is an instant recommendation for a travel approval policy that can be implemented in just a few clicks. Francisca Zanoguera, VP of Data and Analytics, comments: ‘Our customers expect us to provide data insights to help improve their travel programmes. We are going one step further to make it even easier to use those insights to quickly create personalised, effective approval policies. By powering our travel management tools with AI, we continue to deliver an intelligent travel experience for travel managers and travellers.’ Egencia’s most recent machine learning innovation was its market-leading dynamic hotel rate cap policy. Egencia also plans to integrate the travel approval tool with business messaging app Slack in 2022. This will further streamline the approval process for those that approve travel, saving time and effort. Egencia’s data shows that approvers respond to requests quickly, with action taken on 70 per cent of approval requests within one hour, and on 90 per cent within 24 hours. The upcoming integration with Slack will let approvers choose to complete those tasks in their preferred channel, whether it’s the messaging app, online or via email. This makes it easier to continue to respond rapidly to travel requests and help to ensure efficient policy management.
Avian: How a startup is making life better for travel agents all around the world
Challenged with the self-appointed task of revolutionising the way commission and incentives are managed by airlines and travel agents (TAs); Avian is a startup on a mission to drag the complex and convoluted process kicking and screaming into the future, with the application of some 21st-century smarts, deep data and machine learning. To find out more about the company and its plans I spoke to CEO and co-founder, Mickey Haslavsky -- listed in 2017's under 30 list by Forbes magazine -- to discover how exactly Avian are taking on this herculean task and what is in store for TAs and suppliers in the future. (L to R) co-founder and CTO, Oran Epelbaum, alongside founder and CEO, Mickey Haslavsky TD: Before we can into the real meat of the interview, tell me a little bit about your background and how you first conceived of the idea, that has become Avian. Mickey Haslavsky (MH): Well, I come from a technology background and previously co-founded a company called RapidAPI, which was, and still is, the largest API market place in the world, allowing for developers to connect to APIs, using one simple hub and one platform, to browse through all the API’s which exist in the world. My cofounder Oran Epelbaum, an essential component in Avian, has twice been the CTO of two large cybersecurity companies in Israel. We had been exposed to the world of NDC (new distribution capability). And as NDC is mainly about API’s I, naturally, had an interest started watching NDC APIs for a long time. "Nobody speaks about the future of business and commercial communication" When Oran and I teamed up and began working to help distribution and sales within the airline industry, we soon saw the problem airlines had with keeping track of the commission and incentives data. Then we realised this an issue throughout the industry and from there we began working with agencies as well. We began by asking why has NDC adoption been so slow, and what we realised was that everything is around technology in the distribution space -- but nobody speaks about the future of business and commercial communication between TAs and airlines. We asked, specifically, how will TA’s be incentivised to use new products and distribution methods. This is a big problem for TAs, who struggle to manage backend and frontend incentives, coming from potentially hundreds of airlines, at any given moment -- because they are paper-based. Conversely, the struggle for airlines, or indeed any supplier, is the management a lot of different incentives, from hundreds or even thousands of different agencies all around the world. This has become a very big problem. TD: OK, so you have an idea for a concept, how did you then put it into action? MH: Basically we developed online software which allows TAs to scan all of their backend agreements – all their incentives and commission contracts with airlines – allowing them to match that information with their sales performance data and show them how far off they are from achieving the targets we set up for them. what is the ROI on each one of the commission schemes and the sales of the airlines they work with, as well as providing real-time insights into what is the best product for them to sell at any given moment. On the other side, we allow suppliers – currently airlines but in the future hotels, cruise lines and car rentals – to create real-time incentive campaigns and deliver them straight to the travel agent's computer screen. TD: Are you the only guys doing this? MH: Well, there are analytics tools available that allow TAs to manually fill their commissions and incentives. But we are not taking it into the analytics level, we use deep technology and machine learning and literally given our partners insights into their supplier relationships and ROI they have on their sales. TD: What have been the biggest challenges of launching Avian? MH: When you enter the B2B world you can see a lot of challenges with data management and consolidating data all into one place, and we have had a lot of hard times building a machine that will analyse the data and make sure we can extract the most useful insights out of from this information. We are talking about billions of dollars in sales we are looking at and it is very hard to get these specific pints and information. But this is the amazing part of what we have built it literally allows you to have your big data machine learning algorithms as a service -- that’s a big deal TD: What stage are you guys at in the development of the operation? MH: We have raised 2 million dollars so far, from Village Global, network venture capitalists from San Francisco, andJourney Ventures a travel VC from Israel – along with other angel investors, of course And we already have TAs from the US, Europe and Africa now using our software, who are very happy with the service. TD: Where do you see yourselves in five or ten years? MH: Looking forward we can see how complex the booking experience is going to become. There are so many booking engines and pipelines which are evolving the market -- NDC for airlines is one example but you can see this in the hospitality industry too -- and the complexity of managing commission and incentives through all these booking engines is just going to get bigger, bigger and bigger. We want to be the place where those suppliers and distributors have the ability to communicate and manage business relationships in real-time, creating opportunities and collaborations, together, digitally by leveraging this amazing technology and insights. TD: What does the future hold for Avian? MH: Today we have the ability to track and manage incentive agreements for TAs, but we are about to launch an API that will allow online booking tools and OTAs, and even travel management companies with online booking engines, to not only track the incentive and commission agreements they have but also implement them into their search engines, imparting the ability to bring much better prices content and profitability to TAs in the very near future. We’re about to release that in a couple of weeks and I am super excited to, as it might just change the way things work in the supplier space today.
World Aviation Festival 2025 – Day 2 highlights
Day 2 of the World Aviation Festival 2025 in Lisbon brought together some of the most influential voices in global aviation, with government leaders, airline CEOs, and industry innovators addressing the sector’s defining challenges – resilience in a geopolitical world of uncertainty, the urgent need for decarbonisation, and the transformative potential of technology. Over 4,500 global leaders are attending the festival at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa, with more than 600 speakers and 400 travel tech companies showcasing the latest developments in aviation. Aviation at a crossroads Opening the day, Hugo Espírito Santo, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Infrastructure, called for a shared vision to make aviation more resilient, diverse, and inclusive. He highlighted the Portuguese government’s plans for a new Lisbon airport five times larger than the current hub and confirmed approval of TAP’s partial privatisation. “The new aviation industry is going to be smarter and more inclusive,” he said, underlining the role of technology, AI, and cybersecurity in shaping the sector’s future. Airline leaders on resilience and the decarbonisation challenge Sustainability was a consistent theme in the agenda, with airline leaders warning that the industry’s ability to decarbonise will determine its long-term licence to grow. TAP Air Portugal CEO Luís Rodrigues emphasised that while airlines are committed to sustainability, they cannot achieve net zero alone. they can’t produce SAF, can’t build engines, and can’t replace short haul flights with rail. Airlines are doing everything they can, but progress is not fast enough. IAG CEO Luis Gallego pointed to misaligned incentives in the supply chain: “Airlines want more efficient engines, but manufacturers lack incentives to invest in new designs. Hydrogen aircraft have already been delayed beyond 2035.” IATA Director General Willie Walsh underlined the financial burden, warning that airlines face €5 billion in additional costs to meet sustainability targets, with fuel suppliers charging premiums for SAF at airports where they hold monopolies. Meanwhile, Eddie Wilson, Ryanair, said that the airline’s latest aircraft consume 16% less fuel and generate significantly less noise, but stressed that the industry is being held back by the lack of affordable SAF. “Energy companies are not producing enough SAF. We will use it when the price falls, but right now supply is too limited and too expensive,” he said. Technology and digital retailing Innovation was in the spotlight as IBM and event headline sponsors FLYR presented their collaboration with Riyadh Air, building an Offer & Order native airline in under two years. The project demonstrates how modular, IATA aligned technology can transform airline retailing, enabling carriers to sell flights alongside ancillary products in the modern, e commerce style that consumers expect and demand. Wilson also shared how Ryanair is embracing AI and machine learning to boost customer experience and loyalty. From predictive crew management to a new digital boarding pass launching in November, he highlighted how technology is helping Ryanair move 600,000 passengers more efficiently while improving disruption management. He stressed that “fusion between human and AI is the key,” noting that AI is not replacing jobs but enhancing operations. Strategy, competition and innovation In a CEO panel, the top leaders from Ryanair, SunExpress, Swissport, Microsoft and PROS explored how technology, competition and customer expectations are reshaping aviation. Swissport’s Warwick Brady described how the company is digitising ground services, investing in autonomous vehicles and AI to improve efficiency across 4 million annual turnarounds, while expanding its global lounge network. Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunExpress, stressed the importance of balancing automation with the human factor during disruption, while highlighting new ancillary products – such as Covid insurance – that proved popular with customers. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Julie Shainock and PROS’ Surain Adyanthaya pointed to the rise of AI driven revenue management, dynamic pricing and real time personalisation, while warning that transparency in offers is essential to maintain trust. Ryanair’s Wilson noted the challenges of implementing personalisation at scale, while also highlighting the growing cybersecurity risks airlines face. Redefining airline commercial strategy In a fireside chat, easyJet’s CCO Sophie Dekkers reflected on how Covid accelerated change in the industry, with inflation, fuel prices and airport costs now creating new pressures. She noted that 22 million ATC delays were recorded in Europe last year, compounded by reduced airspace due to the war in Ukraine and aircraft delivery delays. Dekkers explained how embedding data scientists into easyJet’s revenue management team has transformed decision making, allowing the airline to respond in real time to unpredictable customer behaviour. “Automation allows the team to focus on exceptions, while data science ensures we can identify problems as they happen,” she said. Meeting traveller expectations and workforce challenges Speakers also explored shifting traveller demographics and expectations. Gallego highlighted the importance of tailoring offers to different customer profiles across IAG’s portfolio, while Rodrigues pointed to the operational challenges of serving an ageing traveller base. IAG’s Walsh noted that premium leisure travel has rebounded faster than other segments, underscoring the need for airlines to adapt to evolving demand patterns. Attracting and retaining talent also emerged as a critical challenge. Gallego described IAG’s group wide career development programmes, while Rodrigues stressed the resilience of aviation workers and the need to bring in fresh perspectives from outside the industry. All agreed that diversity and next generation skills will be essential to aviation’s reinvention.
Coming Soon: South Africa’s AI Visa Could Redefine Border Travel. What It Means for Global Visitors
South Africa has unveiled its vision for a smarter, faster, and more secure border experience. On 18 September 2025, Minister of Home Affairs Dr. Leon Schreiber previewed the country’s upcoming Artificial Intelligence-powered Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system during the Tourism Business Council of South Africa’s Leadership Conference signalling a major step in the digital transformation of travel to the country. The ETA is not yet live, but a pilot phase is expected to begin later this month, initially for tourist visas of up to 90 days. The system will first be implemented at OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) and Cape Town International Airport, before being gradually expanded to additional ports of entry and visa categories. At its core, the ETA is designed to digitise and automate visa processing, using machine learning to screen applicants more efficiently and securely. By moving away from paper-based systems, the platform aims to eliminate delays, reduce fraud and corruption, and strengthen border control through smarter, tech-driven checks. “Over time, the ETA will be expanded to more visa categories and rolled out at more ports of entry. This scale-up will continue until no person can enter South Africa without obtaining a digital visa through the ETA,” Minister Schreiber said. The announcement follows a pledge by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his February State of the Nation Address to digitise immigration services. The ETA builds on those ambitions and complements South Africa’s existing e-Visa portal, which currently serves travellers from over 30 countries. However, it is still unclear whether the new AI-based platform will replace the e-Visa system or operate alongside it. While the announcement marks an internal milestone, it also sends a strong message externally: South Africa is serious about making travel easier, faster, and more appealing — not just for leisure visitors, but for business travellers, investors, and diaspora communities alike. The implications go beyond national borders. Africa remains one of the world’s least open regions for intra-continental travel, with visa restrictions often cited as a major hurdle to economic integration. Experts suggest that systems like ETA — if scaled across countries and aligned regionally — could help unlock the full potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and boost tourism, trade, and labour mobility within the continent. For now, all eyes are on the rollout. As South Africa edges closer to implementing one of the continent’s first AI-powered visa systems, the move could serve as a blueprint for future-ready travel policy — where efficiency, security, and openness go hand in hand.
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