Almasalla news | Arab Tourism Portal News
Wingie, online travel agency that makes connections with the world’s leading airlines and Global Distribution Systems, published an online travel trend report on MENA region where faster recovery in the travel sector is expected due to the increasing interest in domestic travel in 2021.
Saudi Arabia will not open its borders
MENA region will also offer the chance to travel without a quarantine obligation for people who are vaccinated, which will have the effect of boosting tourism significantly in the near future. However, given that Saudi Arabia will not open its borders to international pilgrims this year, religious travel will not have the same effect on tourism as it did last year.
Cairo topped the list
According to the report, which analyzes Wingie’s 8 million monthly users and 400.000 travelers who book their flights each month, Cairo topped the list for the flight search destinations of Saudi Arabian travelers, followed by Jeddah, Riyadh and Manila.
Meanwhile, travelers from United Arab Emirates searched for flights to Kiev and Dammam other than Riyadh and Manila.
The highest flight ticket sales
Egyptian travelers’ flight search destinations are similar to these countries except for Dubai and Bahrain being among the top 5 .These destinations are similar to the locations most flights are sold: Amsterdam, Cairo, Jeddah and Riyadh are among the locations with the highest flight ticket sales.
Kiev is the first
Kiev is the first destination to which United Arab Emirates’ travelers booked their flights while the most flights to Cairo are booked by Saudi Arabians and Egyptians. Safe travel is the main concern for MENA consumers and they are eager to explore within region as safely as possible.
Booking through mobile devices
Mobile usage is one of the highlights of the report. 83% of the users prefers booking through mobile devices, which means that the rate of mobile usage when booking travel in the MENA region is much higher than in America and Europe.
Operating systems
When it comes to the operating systems, 43% of users in Saudi Arabian and 24% in the United Arab Emirates are using iOS. Given that MENA consumers are high digital spenders, being a mobile friendly travel agency is crucial to respond to customers’ needs.
English language
Also, it seems that offering the English language option is important because 7% of travelers in Saudi Arabia and 29% of travelers in the United Arab Emirates use Wingie in English.
Demographics
In terms of demographics, 60% of the users who book flights are men, and 40 % of users are between the ages of 25 and 34.
According to the report, MENA consumers tend to plan their trips beforehand.
Travelers in United Arab Emirates prefer to book their flights 23 days in advance on average, while Saudi Arabians choose to book their flights 12 days in advance.
Most of the users prefer a solo trip, and around 80% of travelers book their flight themselves.
