Almosafer, the flagship brand of Seera Group’s Consumer Travel Business (formerly Al Tayyar Travel Group) and the region’s leading omni-channel travel brand, has released data highlighting travel trends for the Eid travel season. The 2019 Ramadan booking period with travel dates analyzed for the Eid holidays, has been very successful for Almosafer. With an 80% increase in flight bookings, a 350% increase in hotel bookings and an average duration stay increase by one night compared to the same booking window in 2018, the season is yet again proving to be a peak season for travel from, to and within the Kingdom.
In 2019, more Saudi travellers have been opting to travel abroad during Eid as 75% of all bookings are for international travel; compared to 68% in 2018. Drilling down on domestic travel, within the 25% of overall bookings, Makkah and Madinah experienced booking increases of 100% compared to 2018, showing that religious tourism continues to gather pace. Domestic city breaks also remained of interest with hotel bookings in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam increasing year-on-year.
Holding steady from 2018 to 2019; top destinations for hotel bookings included Dubai, Makkah, Manama, Abu Dhabi and Cairo. Emerging destinations this year are Baku and Geneva, where hotel bookings have increased by 440% and over 500% respectively from 2018, with the cities offering pleasant summer weather and affordable stays near the main touristic sites. In terms of flights, a few trending destinations have emerged for Saudi travellers booking Eid escapes, including Kuala Lumpur, Alexandria, Jakarta and Beirut.
Commenting on the results, Muzzammil Ahussain, EVP of Almosafer said: “Ramadan is a prime period for us as travellers book both domestic and international trips. Compiling this data gives us great insight into the latest booking habits and trends of our customers. With the recent changes in travel visas for inbound and outbound travel, we anticipate that travellers will continue to venture further afield especially during Eid and summer holidays.”
* The data is based on bookings placed in the first week of Ramadan in 2018 (Wed 16 May 2018 - Tue 22 May 2018) and first week of Ramadan in 2019 (Sun 5 May 2019 - Sat 11 May 2019). Travel periods were based on Eid: Tue 28 May 2019 - Tue 11 June 2019 (+/- 7 days since 4 June 2019) vs. Thu 7 June 2018 - Thu 21 June 2018 (+-7 days since 14 June 2018).