The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is edging lower today after notching a better day on Tuesday.
The travel agent's share price is $17.05 at the time of writing, down 0.29%, after dropping as low as $16.91 earlier in the session. This comes after the Flight Centre share price closed 3.89% higher for the day yesterday.
Let's take a look at the latest from the ASX travel agent.
New technology platform
Flight Centre informed the market it has taken over Texas-based business Compli.ai. The company has developed software known as Shep.
The software will be integrated into Flight Centre's leading FCM travel management business to provide more flexibility for customers.
Commenting on the news, Flight Centre corporate CEO Chris Galanty said:
FCM is all about flexibility – we customize our products and services to the needs of our customers at global scale.
The Shep tool allows us to customise offerings further by injecting important and relevant FCM content on online booking tools and third party websites that travellers are accessing.
Flight Centre noted the Shep acquisition was one of many investments into its global corporate business during the pandemic.
The company also has plans to expand into Japan in early 2022 via a joint venture with Tokyo company NSF Engagement Corporation.
What else is impacting travel shares?
While the Flight Centre share price is down today, the company is not the only travel share languishing on the market on Wednesday.
At the time of writing, the Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is even at $4.82. Meanwhile, Webjet is also flat at $5.20.
As noted by my Foolish colleague Brooke yesterday, all these companies gained on the market on Tuesday despite ongoing Omicron COVID-19 variant fears.
Travel restrictions eased for international arrivals into Sydney and Melbourne yesterday, while South Australia abolished the requirement for a COVID test on arrival into the state.
However, national cabinet is holding an emergency meeting today to decide on how to respond to a significant rise in COVID-19 Omicron variant cases. This could be weighing into the minds of travel share investors.
Flight Centre share price snapshot
The Flight Centre share price is up more than 14% this year and 7% on the year to date.
For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned around 11% over the past year.
Meanwhile, in the past month, the travel agent's shares are down 14%.
The company has a significant market capitalisation of $3.4 billion based on today's share price.
