With booking on rise from Kuwait, online travel agent Musafir.com is expecting the country to contribute significantly to its future growth as it opens an office in the country.
How vibrant is the online travel sector in Kuwait?
The travel market as a whole in Kuwait is undergoing a major transformation and the online sector in the form of e-commerce, is playing a significant part in this formation.
According to the recent Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2015 Kuwait report, Kuwaiti investment into the travel and tourism is forecast to grow by 4.3% per annum through to 2025, with a total investment figure of $1 billion.
As a result of this steady growth, Kuwait market has great potential as online travel agents (OTA) are being steadily adopted with the marketing maturing rapidly.
Musafir.com will enter the Kuwait market with the start of online operations in September. With frequent transactions from the country being witnessed already, we expect high booking volumes from June onwards with a fully functional website dedicated to Kuwait’s travel sector.
Has there been a growth in booking from Kuwait? Do you see much volumes within the country?
Kuwaitis are frequent travellers and with the annual pilgrimage in Makkah and Medina, we’ve observed a high volume of booking from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia. Currently, we have witnessed that a sizeable amount of traffic on the Saudi website is Kuwait travel focused. Considering the significant amount of traffic and demand, we have decided to expand into Kuwait by setting up our retail store for customer’s convenience and to garner market share in the OTA space there.
How important is this market for you as a travel firm?
With the “New Kuwait” 2035 strategy announced earlier this year, the government is taking rapid steps to diversify the economy by reducing the country’s dependency on oil. This is also reflected in the plans to invest more than $1 billion in the country’s travel sector by 2025.
Musafir.com is well placed to support Kuwait in realizing its economic ambitions in the travel and tourism sector. Our long term vision as a company entails digital acquisition in the region and implementing our distinct hybrid model-providing both online and offline services- in each country of the GCC. With our knowledge of the local market, Kuwait becomes a crucial country in achieving our long term plan of establishing ourselves as the number one OTA in the region.
Which is the best performing segment for you in Kuwait? Is it business travellers or family travel?
According to our current data, the largest market segment that book online are groups and families. We believe that with our official launch of online operations in Kuwait, these numbers are likely to grow tremendously. The increased use of mobile platforms is changing the way in which people travel for business across the region as companies find it convenient to book online for their respective travel. Business travellers are now looking for a full-service experience from low cost carriers and we believe now is the time to be focusing on their needs as we have great share in the regional market with these carriers and other airliners.
Kuwait, unlike its GCC neighbours, are just beginning to boost tourism in order successfully diversify. Is that a challenge for travel firms like yours?
We operate a distinct hybrid model-providing online and offline travel booking services-which gives us the flexibility to adapt to all markets and audiences.
There are many international OTAs already present within Kuwait, and with Musafir.com having local and regional knowledge of the market, our model can align with the government`s initiative to significantly boost the country`s tourism sector. Kuwait along with Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E will be our significant growth markets moving forward.
How much of your bookings from Kuwait comes from mobile? Do you see the travellers to and from the country are as tech savvy as other Gulf countries?
The Middle East region as a whole has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world, and Kuwait has been a key driver behind this digital charge. In fact, according to Consolidated Kuwait National ICT Indicators Report 2016, the total mobile phone subscriptions exceeded eight millions last year, accounting for 240% penetration among the population. This is the highest rate in the GCC, with Oman second with 215%. When it comes to travel bookings, currently 55% of our bookings at Musafir.com are completed through smart phones across the Middle East. With the continued rise of digitalization and e-commerce across the region, we project our numbers to increase to 70% in the next two years. Mobile web and mobile apps booking from Kuwait are also on the rise. However, they are yet to reach close to the inflated numbers from Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.
What is your outlook for the online travel market in Kuwait? How much of a potential do you see in this market?
The online travel market in Kuwait is strong as travellers have access to international OTAs. Every serious player in the online travel space is prioritizing mobile technology development and pushing hard for traveller`s attention in the form of traffic, transactions and app downloads. With our local expertise and convenience of hybrid model being established, there is a great potential in the future. We want to establish our hybrid model within the next one year but our online operations start in September.