Mobile air travel bookings in Saudi more than double in 2017

Mobile travel bookings in Saudi Arabia jumped by 116 percent year-on-year (YoY) in 2017, as the GCC’s online travel sector grew 9 percent last year, online travel company Cleartrip said in a recent report.

According to the report, 31 percent of total bookings in the Kingdom were made through mobile devices, compared to 69 percent purchased through desktops.

In comparison, the UAE saw a 60.65 percent increase in mobile transactions last year with 25 percent of total bookings being placed on mobile devices versus 75 percent on desktop.

Among the regional cities assessed, Riyadh was found to have the highest rate of mobile booking penetration, with 32 percent of total purchases made on mobile devices, followed by Jeddah with 31 percent.

The report also found a correlation between the number of travelers per ticket and the platform used for booking, with computers being increasingly preferred when the number of travelers increased.

For solo travelers, 27 percent of bookings were made through mobile, compared to 83 percent of reservations for groups of 10 or more made through desktops.

Cleartrip found that the majority of travel bookings in the GCC, particularly in Saudi Arabia, were done within a week of departure, with mobile platforms outpacing desktop in last-minute purchases.

In the Kingdom, 48.3 percent of travel bookings on mobile devices and 44.9 percent via desktop were made within seven days of departure in 2017.

In the GCC, 48.3 percent of mobile bookings and 41.4 percent of desktop reservations occurred up to a week ahead of travel.

Meanwhile, credit card remains the preferred method of payment for travelers in the region, the report noted. Bahrain topped the six countries in the GCC with 94 percent transactions made on credit cards, while in Saudi Arabia 28 percent of purchases were made using debit cards.

In terms of the most favored destinations among travelers, Dubai was the most popular last year, followed by Sharjah, Manila, and Abu Dhabi.

Armenia's capital Yerevan topped the list of trending destinations, with a 498 percent increase from 2016, followed by Tbilisi and Kathmandu, which grew by 210 and 207 percent, respectively.