The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is in the green today amid the company's announcement of a travel technology investment.
The travel company's shares are currently trading at $18.85, a 1.84% gain, after reaching as high as $18.98 earlier in the session.
Let's take a look at what Flight Centre announced today.
What did Flight Centre announce?
Flight Centre has boosted its interest in travel technology business TP Connects (TPC) from 22.5% to 70%.
TPC is a Dubai-based software as a service (SaaS) business. Flight Centre said TPC has been at the forefront of changes to traditional distribution models.
Flight Centre said the investment reinforces its commitment to provide customers with the "widest choice of airfares".
Commenting on the announcement, Flight Centre leisure and supply chief executive officer Melanie Waters-Ryan said:
By investing further in the business, we have greater influence over future developments and the product's ongoing evolution, while ensuring we continue to deliver the widest choice of airfares to our customers.
Greater influence over future developments will also provide FLT with a better opportunity to be ahead of our competitors' comparable solutions.
TPC has been at the heart of the evolution in airfare distribution during the past decade, is now ingrained in our business and is integral to the new operating systems and platforms we are delivering in both the leisure and corporate sectors.
Flight Centre said the investment will lower costs, improve margin, and provide the company with access to new revenue schemes.
In other travel shares, the Qantas share price is up 2.16% today, while Webjet is up 1.29%.
Travel shares may be receiving a boost from a fall in oil prices on global markets. The Brent Crude Oil price has fallen 3.76% while the WTI Crude Oil price has dropped 3.87%, according to Bloomberg. Oil prices can impact airline fuel costs.
Flight Centre share price snapshot
The Flight Centre share price has jumped 6.75% since the start of 2022 and has held a 086% gain over the past year.
For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned 5% in the past year.
The company has a market capitalisation of about around $3.8 billion based on its current share price.
