Goquo Delivers First Iranian Booking Portal

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. October 14, 2008

JUNE 15, 2007. GoQuo Ltd has been commissioned by leading Iranian travel agency Shakiba Travel to implement what is thought to be the first Persian and Arabic language online booking portal in Iran.

Established in 1972, Shakiba Travel is headquartered in Isfahan, with subsidiary travel offices in the United Arab Emirates and California, and offers a full range of travel services primarily for Iranians living in North America and the Middle East. Shakiba also provides worldwide cargo and shipping services. The company is one of the oldest and most reputable travel companies inside Iran and is one of the most recognized names in the travel industry there.

The multi-part assignment secured by GoQuo will provide Shakiba with a fully dynamically packaged web site in three languages: English, Farsi (Persian) and Arabic. This is thought to be the first online booking portal to feature the Persian and Arabic languages in both Iran and the UAE.

GoQuo will integrate its GQ Dynamic software solution for packaging flights, hotels, car rental and travel insurance in one seamless booking. It will also suggest travel components or product combinations to customers during their web site visit. Additional modules include a B2C flight booking engine with a flight fare loading facility and XML access to Openfares.com; a hotel booking engine with XML access to inventory from GTA / Octopus Travel and Tourico; and a car booking engine with XML access to Worldwidecars.com.

The solution will feature triple Pseudo City Code (PCC) integration with Amadeus where the PCC is defaulted to the departure point, helping provide the best value according to country of origin and currency strength, plus payment gateway integration with a relevant provider.

The web site will feature the English language on all its pages, with separate Farsi (Persian) and Arabic language versions of the home page and all interfaces that can be manipulated, such as returned results, special fares, etc.

Abbas Karimi, CEO of Shakiba Travel, said: "With many Iranians living and working abroad, especially in the USA and Middle East, Shakiba Travel has built a strong business servicing their travel needs, as well as those of Iranians who are outbound for leisure or business purposes.

"We realised we needed to make a significant investment in establishing a powerful, sales-focused online presence, which is where GoQuo's expertise will be invaluable. Shakiba sees significant revenue potential for a fully dynamically packaged site that gives time-pressed customers more product choice and therefore pricing variety, as well as fast, secure booking."

GoQuo managing director Ron Ramanan added: "The growth of inbound and outbound tourism services in Iran is very impressive, thanks to rising levels of disposable income and the fact that Iran is a fantastic destination. Shakiba's strategic initiative to deliver enhanced service, choice and value to those market segments through a state-of-the-art web site is to be applauded, and we're delighted to be working on a project that is truly innovative."