Al Tayyar said to expand online travel business in Egypt

Al Tayyar Travel Group Holding Co. (Al Tayyar) is planning to expand into Egypt in early 2018, Reuters reported, citing chief executive Abdullah Aldawood.

The move comes as part of a broader restructuring to build the firm’s leisure, hospitality and online sales services.

Al Tayyar’s board of directors has already approved a strategic transformation plan to consolidate its 24 subsidiaries into four new business units, Argaam previously reported.

The plan shifts the firm’s focus from a traditionally heavy reliance on government travel contracts into advising leisure travelers on tourism plans, operating hotels, and developing Arabic-language platforms for online bookings.

“We will continue to grow [online sales], invest in and upgrade these technologies, add new products, enter into new markets and continue getting much larger market share in the local market,” said Aldawood.

Aldawood said the firm has received payments from government agencies since the detention and has not communicated with the company’s founder.

“We have received direct communication from senior ministers in the cabinet conveying the government’s full faith and support for the company,” he said. “We continue our business with government agencies as usual.”

The company plans to relocate around 30 of its existing retail locations to high-traffic areas such as malls, where they will promote tourism trips, he said.

It is also planning to list a real estate investment trust (REIT) on the stock market in the first quarter of 2018 and develop 30 new mid-market hotels with 6,000 rooms.

The REIT would consist of Al Tayyar’s undeveloped land holdings as well as equity from third parties and debt from banks, Aldawood said.

It will be used to fund hotel development in Makkah to cater to the increased numbers of Muslim pilgrims, as Saudi authorities hope to attract more hajj and umrah pilgrims.

Building the hotels will also help Al Tayyar avoid penalties on its undeveloped or “white” lands, which the Kingdom is beginning to tax in a bid to boost commercial activity and alleviate an affordable housing shortage.

Al Tayyar also plans to add jobs as part of the expansion in hospitality and online sales, but Aldawood declined to say how many. There will be no structural layoffs, he added.

The plans to expand and invest come at a sensitive time for the company, after its founder and board member Nasser bin Aqeel Al-Tayyar was reportedly detained in a widespread anti-corruption probe in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Tayyar owns a 12.8 percent stake in the company.