In the last 12 months, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has experienced a rise in terms of outbound tourism. With countries such as Turkey, Egypt and the United Kingdom experiencing a rise of tourists from KSA by 16%, 3%, and 14% respectively.
According to Cristian Tolentino of Travel Daily Media, Mohammed Khair, Travelport’s country manager for the KSA, explained the causes behind the phenomenon: “Increased airline capacity, economic growth, and rises in demand from leisure travelers are all major drivers of growth in flight bookings.
Out of the ten countries with the largest volume growth, the biggest movers in terms of percentage, which saw an increase in flight bookings made in the KSA through all GDS of 219% during the last 12 months, and Russia, which registered a rise of 168%.
Khair added: “The rise in flight bookings to Mauritius from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can at least in part be attributed to increased capacity. The spike in bookings to Russia was mainly driven by the Football World Cup. Booking volumes from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Russia in June and July 2018, the months the tournament was held, were up 1,141% and 225% respectively, year-on-year.”
