Online reservation system & travel mobile apps, the key for agencies in UAE, Saudi Arabia & Qatar

Great use of travel technology, agent assisted travel CRM and use of mobile devices are expected to drive Qatar’s online travel industry towards a 15% to 20% growth by 2015 but local travel agencies are yet to take the lion’s share of the market, which is dominated by major web based travel websites. The travel industry of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar are focusing on two major factors for the growth of the industry. The first is the online reservation system, which the users prefer owing to the privilege of booking their travel needs online. The second is the travel mobile apps, which helps the user to conduct the online reservation through their Smartphone.

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According operations director for technology solutions provider Amadeus Qatar, the local market is spending $700mn in online travel bookings annually.

But the country’s local travel agencies did not benefit from the amount but instead was exploited by prominent Internet-based travel websites outside Qatar.

Qatar’s online travel industry is still at its “infancy stage” with many travel agencies unable to maximise the use of their websites. Other travel agencies are yet to let go from “traditional” industry practices.

While many travel agencies in Qatar own websites, only quite a few are successful. And these are the leading agencies doing 20 to 30 online bookings per day and at the same time are able to book hundreds of trips offline.

But with the ubiquitous presence mobile devices in the market and a younger generation making travel-related arrangements and other bookings on their smartphones, Qatar’s online travel industry is expected to experience a 15% to 20% growth by 2015.

Qatar’s online travel industry is still in its infancy stage but when you look at the global picture, 70% to 80% of bookings in Canada and the US are done online. So that shift is just starting here and in about five years, majority of bookings from this entire market will be online. In UAE and Saudi Arabia, its only a little better.

A study conducted revealed that the average traveller from Qatar spends $3,650 on regional trips and $6,690 on international trips; 64% of business travellers from the country prefer traveling alone (the highest in the region) while 33% prefer to travel with business colleagues, 3% are undecided.

The report added that 9% of “seasonal travellers” from Qatar travel during Haj while 68% travel during Ramadan and 23% travel “at other times.” Also, 28% of travellers from Qatar prefer to travel alone while 72% prefer to travel with their family and friends.

It also determined that Qatar’s Internet penetration is 75% of the total population with 33% of Qatar’s travellers using smart phones to make travel-related arrangements; 48% of Qatar’s business travellers use online travel agents for end-to-end services.

Also, 52% use direct carrier websites while 21% of Qatar’s luxury travellers used online travel agents and 79% used direct carrier websites.

Other statistics show that 33% of Qatar’s business travellers paid using corporate debit cards while 26% used personal debit cards, 8% used company credit cards and 9% used personal credit cards.

Thus local travel agencies should focus on creating a niche in the online travel industry by specialising on medical or adventure tourism, among others.

Another strategy is to maximise their presence on social media and capitalise on the existing technology available today in order to drive the market to their websites and bring more customers to their shops.

How Amadeus, Travelport, Sabre are important for agencies in Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia?

Success of online booking systems including airline reservation system depends on the type of inventory and pricing. GDS systems like Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre provide singular access to top inventory and thus better deals for end clients.  

RF – Gulf Time

PROVAB TECHNOSOFT (http://www.provab.com) is an award winning travel technology company, delivering best in class online travel software and CRS systems to global clients.