Internet bookings double over half decade in Arab world

The number of holiday bookings made online across the Middle East will double by 2016, according to Walter Lo Faro – the director of market management and the Middle East & Indian Ocean departments of Expedia.

Mr Lo Faro estimates that around 20 – 25% of transactions across the Middle East are completed on the internet, however he said that the market is showing impressive growth as travel suppliers and travel agents, as well as tour operators, have started catering to growing demands from consumers that prefer to make bookings online.

The Middle East remains slightly slower on the development it is making when compared to Asia and other parts of the world but it’s eventually getting there, said Lo Faro, and I would like to stress that, over the past 24 months, speeds of growth among Middle Eastern users making bookings has grown exponentially.

In spite of this, Lo Faro says that there are still no immediate plans with regards to launching an Arabic language or localised version of Expedia.com for Middle Eastern users. Two years ago though, Expedia launched Hotels.com in Arabic – although Lo Faro explained that Expedia is more complex while hotels.com basically remains a hotel bed bank, making it disproportionally easier to launch.

At the moment, there are over 70 Hotels.com sites. In contrast, Expedia has only launched in 20 different countries.