Mobile travel bookings in Saudi Arabia see threefold rise in 2018: Cleartrip

Mobile travel bookings in Saudi Arabia jumped by 233 percent (more than threefold) year-on-year (YoY) in 2018, driven by high smartphone penetration rates and large young population, online travel company Cleartrip said on Wednesday

While the GCC continued to witness an increase in the number of travelers due to lower airfares, increased connectivity and fewer travel barriers in 2018, Saudi Arabia emerged as the fastest growing market with a 10 percent expansion compared to an industry-wide 7 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth.

Despite credit card remained the dominant payment method in the online travel market, debit card transactions registered an increase. In the Kingdom, which has seen a spike in the adoption and usage of debit card after Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the central bank, enabled the country’s mada cardholders for online shopping last year, travel bookings using debit cards surged 280 percent YoY to account for 45 percent of all bookings.

However, credit card transactions dipped to 72 percent from 81 percent in the UAE last year as debit cards usage grew from 19 percent to 28 percent, the report said.

Meanwhile, the GCC market recorded a 110 percent increase in mobile bookings which represented one-third of all transactions, supported by digital wallets and mobile apps.

The Kingdom registered the highest rate of mobile booking penetration (MBP) in the region, accounting for 38 percent of all transactions.  The iOS share was higher at 71 percent compared to Android devices share of 29 percent, the report noted.

Kuwait City and Riyadh had the highest rates of mobile traffic and bookings at 81 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Bahrain, Muscat and Dubai were also among the leading markets for mobile visitors.

As crude oil prices continued to fluctuate in 2018, the region’s leading markets saw significant changes in airfare pricing. Average ticket prices were 10 percent and 6 percent higher in Bahrain and Kuwait respectively, while Saudi Arabia experienced an overall price decline of 7 percent due to growth of low-cost carriers such as flyadeal.

Sunday was the cheapest day for travel, while the costliest day was Thursday, the report found.