TUI & Nezasa: Digitalisation & APIs Redefine Travel Sourcing

Digitalisation is reshaping sourcing and procurement, unlocking new levels of efficiency and innovation.

By automating routine tasks, digital procurement technologies streamline operations, reduce errors and allow organisations to focus on strategic goals.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are at the heart of this transformation, enabling seamless system integration and real-time data sharing across the supply chain. The shift provides organisations with improved visibility, making it easier to manage suppliers, mitigate risks and make informed decisions.

Furthermore, the adoption of digitalisation supports sustainability goals and strengthens supply chain resilience. With features like automated order placement, inventory management and electronic payments, procurement APIs drive faster processes and cost savings.

For organisations navigating today’s dynamic business landscape, embracing digitalisation and APIs in procurement isn’t just an option; it’s a competitive necessity.

TUI and Nezasa: A partnership transforming procurement

TUI Markets & Airlines, part of the TUI Group, has demonstrated the transformative power of digitalisation in sourcing and procurement through its partnership with Nezasa.

By implementing Nezasa’s TripBuilder platform, TUI has reimagined its tour sourcing, production and fulfilment processes.

Before TripBuilder, TUI relied on legacy systems that struggled with the complexities of sourcing tour components. This inefficiency impacted supplier relationships and hindered the company’s ability to personalise offerings or respond to customer demands.

Belgium was chosen as the pilot market for the platform, given its robust offline operations and established demand.

After implementing the system, TUI Belgium reduced its time-to-market for new tours from one day to just one hour. The results included a 76% increase in itineraries created, a 65% growth in bookings and a 4% rise in average basket size.

Integrated sourcing for a seamless supply chain

TripBuilder’s capabilities centre on creating an integrated sourcing and procurement process. Traditional approaches relied on disconnected systems and manual coordination, often tracked using tools like Excel. These methods caused delays and inefficiencies.

With TripBuilder, all aspects of sourcing, from supplier integration to final fulfilment, are streamlined into a single, automated system. This ensures real-time access to availability and pricing, enabling TUI to source tour components efficiently while maintaining strong supplier relationships.

Kim Meskens, TUI’s Director of Tours, explains: "Multi-day tours are the most complex vertical in the tourism sector.

"To realise our vision, we needed an end-to-end platform that enables sourcing and, at the same time, handles production, fulfilment and distribution — digitally interconnected."

This interconnected process enhances transparency across the supply chain. Suppliers, destination management companies (DMCs), tour operators and customers all operate within a unified system, reducing errors and boosting collaboration.

Procurement APIs: The key to accelerating innovation

Central to TUI’s transformation is the Connect API, a tool developed by Nezasa. This API simplifies integration between the TripBuilder platform and third-party suppliers, offering live access to pricing and availability.

Procurement APIs like Connect remove the need for manual intervention, speeding up the sourcing process and making it easier to onboard new suppliers.

The Connect API also addresses one of the biggest challenges in procurement: time-to-market. With traditional methods, integrating a new supplier could take weeks or even months.

Now, suppliers can connect to TUI’s system in significantly less time, enabling the company to respond quickly to market changes and customer needs.

While challenges such as industry reluctance to adopt new technologies remain, Nezasa continues to enhance the API to include components like flights, hotels, ground transportation and insurance. These developments aim to further simplify sourcing and procurement processes for TUI and its partners.

Driving results across global markets

The success of the TripBuilder system in Belgium has served as a model for other TUI markets. The Netherlands and France have already adopted the platform, with Germany and the UK expected to follow in the coming months.

This global rollout demonstrates how digitalisation enhances procurement processes on a large scale, enabling organisations to maintain healthy supplier relationships, control costs and adapt to changing market demands.

Kim reflects on the transformation: "TUI plays in a market that is rapidly digitalising. For us as market leaders, it’s not easy to find new revenue streams and customers. With TUI Belgium, we implemented a business model that contributes healthy margins, a controlled cost structure, and revenue growth that almost doubled what we used to do."

TUI’s achievements underscore the value of digitalisation in procurement, not only in enhancing efficiency but also in building a foundation for long-term growth.

"The 'Connected Trip' concept fully represents our strategic vision, consolidating sourcing and fulfilment into one seamless virtual package," Kim concludes.

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