“100 days isn’t long – unless you’re an adult dragonfly – to whom it is a lifetime.” So begins the new blog of Diane Bouzebiba, appointed Managing Director UK & Ireland by Amadeus last January, who met up with ITTN’s News and Features Editor Neil Steedman on her first – and one-week long – visit to Ireland recently.
We meet in Amadeus Ireland’s Dublin office in Coke Lane, Smithfield, and the immediate impressions are that Diane Bouzebiba is tall (she’s 6’1”), red-haired and sociable. It doesn’t take long to realise that she enjoys talking with people, the emphasis being on the word ‘with’ – she likes to talk, but she likes to listen even more.
When I relate all this, she readily agrees and refers me to her new blog (www.uk.amadeus.com/blog/), which she commenced 100 days after taking up her new position last January. Indeed, I later discover that her first posting ends with: “So if you see me at an event, do come over and say hello… You can’t miss me – I am 6’1” tall and… I’m all ears!”
Diane’s top priorities for the coming year in the travel and technology sectors include:
- Enhancing the customer experience – the need for travel companies to evolve with the times looking in particular at the specific technology that can enhance the customer experience
- Why travel companies must prove they add value (from the perspective of travellers and providers)
- Leveraging IT investment as a business enabler – the importance of using the right technology as the foundation for a future-proof business
- Why niche travel companies are succeeding
- How and why Amadeus is transforming into a global retailing system (evolving from its GDS roots)
For the full interview, see the April issue of Irish Travel Trade News.
