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AMADEUS plans to play a big part in the cities of the future, last month announcing the establishment of an Asia-Pacific task force promising to enable “Smart Mobility” for the world’s most densely populated urban centres and “changing the way we will live and travel in the future”. Last year the company committed US$800 million globally to research and development for the project, half of which is linked to technologies such as biometrics, traveller identification, passenger handling platforms, “massive data platforms” and smart devices.

The company confirmed it was currently working on a number of key projects in Asia Pacific, including working with several Asian national tourism boards as well as the Hong Kong International Airport.

“As urbanisation increases and governments are faced with challenges around traffic congestion, pollution, inadequate energy and resources, it will be vital for cities to harness technologies to solve complex problems,” said Simon Akeroyd, Amadeus vice president of corporate strategy and business development. “The future of travel will be driven by multi modal journeys and data to deliver more personalised and smart experiences,” he added.

Akeroyd said the rise of Smart Cities will boost travel and tourism, and so the public and private sector must collaborate to share data and use technology.

“When done successfully, we believe that this will enable the immersive travel experiences and services that citizens and travellers expect in the future”.

The Smart Cities initiative is focused on Asia given that 22 of the 39 megacities worldwide are in the Asia Pacific region, including 11 in China. Additionally, the emerging middle class means half of global air passenger traffic is expected to come from Asia by 2030.

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