Last year, holiday-makers had to factor the SARS crisis in the Far East as well as the ongoing fallout of 9/11 and the continual reluctance to travel to Europe - particularly the US - into their decisions when choosing where to spend the summer. As a result, vast numbers of Arab holiday-makers elected to stay closer to home, leading to a boom year for intra-regional travel, and the Middle East's tourism sector in general, which grew by 10 per cent, according to the World Tourism Organisation.

And it looks as if Middle East holiday travel trends are continuing to favour intra-regional destinations this year as well. Egyptians, Lebanese and Jordanians are certainly likely to see more of each this summer as rising costs and visa issues keep them closer to home for their holidays. While many of them would like to be off to Paris or London for a break, they are more likely to be staying close to the Mediterranean.

"Lebanese travellers like beaches, warm weather and the chance to shop so they favour France, Italy and possibly southern Spain," said George Haddad, travel consultant at Sadd Transport in Beirut. "But they are also going for very attractive packages for Sharm El Sheikh and other Egyptian resorts that are offering a week's holiday with all meals plus transport for $300-400."

Haddad added that some Lebanese are also choosing Dubai and other Gulf areas for holidays, drawn by a mix of "shopping and curiosity" and now encouraged by the availability of cheap fares from Air Arabia.

The general manager of Adonis Travel in Beirut, Nassif Shami, said price and weather are two of the factors that attract Lebanese tourists to the Mediterranean but there is also the issue of flying time.

"The Lebanese like holidays where they can spend time outdoors and shop but in addition they don't like to fly for more than three to four hours," he said. "So they would not think of the US for example as it is too expensive and too far."

Cheap packages for Egyptian resorts are certainly a big winner for Jordanians. 

"Europe is actually the favourite destination for Jordanians, if they can afford it, but with the rise in the Euro it has become too expensive for most people so Sharm El Sheikh and other Red Sea resorts as well as Lebanon, Turkey and Cyprus are all popular," said Omran Dakkak of Dakkak Tours.

"While most Jordanians take advantage of low priced flight and accommodation packages for trips to the Egyptian resorts, many also choose bus tours or take their own cars for holidays in Lebanon and to Syria. During the Labour day weekend we sent 15 buses to Lebanon and another 200 passengers by car and 200 by plane."

Dakkak added that Malaysia remains a popular choice for honeymooners but Singapore is missing out on business because of visa restrictions.

"People have to wait for two weeks for a visa so Singapore is losing traffic," he said.

Tunisia is the newest destination for Jordanians with cheap packages and easy visas once again proving to be a winning combination, particularly for middle class professionals who want some culture with their beaches but who either feel uncomfortable in Europe in the current political climate or just can't afford it.

With Egypt emerging as a major resort destination, Samir Diab, general manager of Arab International Travel Centre in Cairo, said Egyptians have plenty of choice and opt to holiday at home. If they want to go abroad and can afford it, Greece, Italy, France, England and Turkey are all popular choices, according to Diab.

"Those who can afford it will go to Paris or London for shopping and for cultural attractions, but for a typical family of at least four or five people cheaper packages to the nearby Mediterranean countries are more reasonable," he said, adding that a Syria/Lebanon combination that offers the chance to shop in Damascus and enjoy the entertainment on offer in Beirut is also popular with many Egyptians.

With Cyprus a popular destination for all three countries, travel agents are now waiting to see what impact its new status as a European Union member will have.

"We used to be able to get visas on arrival," said Dakkak. "Now it will take two to three weeks and it will probably affect numbers until people get used to it."

In the Gulf meanwhile, increasing numbers of people are heading to India for their holidays.

According to Vinay Maheshwary, director of the New-Delhi based company Services International, India's diversity - cultural, social and religious - is its major touristic attraction and asset. The Golden Triangle circuit (comprising Delhi-Agra-Jaipur), with its fly-in and drive-around itineraries, has been a perennial bestseller for many seasons now for the company which swears by its internet booking engine as its prime overseas client generator.

Destinations like Kerala and Goa are well-known and haunted frequently by Gulf residents because these states work "so hard at their marketing and promotion efforts", said Maheshwary.

"There are too many ifs and buts in travel and tourism, so sensitive and vulnerable is it to concerns such as conflict and contagion, but if peace prevails and a country is free from epidemics, the tourists will come," he said.

M.A.A. Quraishi, manager of SNTTA Holidays in Sharjah, said the outlook for this summer, which is hopefully "war and SARS-free", is fantastic.

"We are expecting a bonus this summer - as there are many people who didn't travel in 2003 because of security and health concerns who are taking a long vacation in 2004," he said. "Escorted motorcoach tours are popular with UAE residents, with the UK being the start and finish point for land journeys throughout Britain, Ireland, Europe, and Scandinavia."

Also, new frontiers and horizons are forever opening up to travel, and what seem to be the exotic and daring options of today and only the preserve of the well-heeled, will become part of tomorrow's mainstream, according to Quraishi, who has found a growing niche market for adventure tours.

Heading for the other hemisphere meanwhile, the Malaysia/Thailand/Singapore circuit is also a hot favourite, while, in the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand has joined Australia and the rest of the list of preferred destinations for the UAE traveller. This has been aided not just by Emirates' flights to Auckland and Wellington, but also by  New Zealand tourism's zealous roadshows in the Gulf, according to Prakash Jayaraman, tours manager of Al Abbas Travel & Tours.

One area that is causing much excitement is the fly and cruise segment, especially sea travel in Alaska, the Mediterranean, Europe and the Far East.

"Even though cruise prices are marginally higher this year, it hasn't deterred takers," said Jayaraman, who reported that cruise bookings are 10-15 per cent higher than last year.

Elsewhere, Qatar's travellers are still tending to favour the Middle East, Asia and the Far East for holidays this summer, though Australia continues to grow in popularity, and recent marketing campaigns here have raised the profile of Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Cairo, Beirut, Amman and Damascus remain popular with Qatari nationals, and will also be the natural destination for expatriates from those countries who will return home for their vacations. Beirut tops the Middle East list, with the average stay for Qatari nationals being two to three weeks. As last year, Cairo has been relegated to second place.

For travel agents in Qatar, used to coping with typical last minute scrambles for bookings, an encouraging trend is that passengers are now booking earlier than in past years. Most travel agents are reporting that enquiries - and bookings - are already flooding in, and telephone lines are constantly busy. Those travellers not tied to returning to their home countries for the summer vacation are seeking the best deals on flights and packages, but still trying to avoid what they regard as 'unfriendly' destinations.

According to Chetan G. Punjani, manager of Continental Tourism Network in Doha, bookings for Europe are up considerably on this time last year, with Paris heading the bookings at his travel agency, London in second place and Vienna third.

"Qatari nationals have always loved those destinations, and they are beginning to make bookings again; locals tend to go for about a month, while expatriates will often stopover in Europe for a maximum of 10 days on their way home," he said.

Punjani said bookings for the Far East are slightly down this year, but added that China is an increasingly popular stopover.

Bennie D'Souza of Cleopatra Travels - one of the largest travel agents in town - said his clients are flocking to Vienna this summer, but there's little demand for Paris or London, other than as stopovers.

"There's been a big push on Vienna, a previous favourite of Qatari nationals, with both the Viennese and Austrian Tourism Boards in town recently. Most of our customers are also looking for all-in packages that include flight and accommodation," he said. "It used to be that they booked a flight and then made their own arrangements for accommodation. Now they want us to do it for them, whether it's hotels, service apartments or self-catering. We'll make all the arrangements on their behalf - even if we have to work through other companies or organisations to come up with all the solutions."

D'Souza keeps a list of all his clients from year to year, and calls them before the summer to offer assistance with their holiday plans.

"I'm still finding heavy demand for the Far East, with Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore topping the list," he said. "They're all destinations where travellers from Qatar feel comfortable. Many of my clients are returning there this year because they enjoyed it so much last time; they've been making their bookings four or five months in advance to guarantee their reservations."

The eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has increased in popularity, with a higher demand for flights. According to the local GSA for Cyprus Airways, Darwish Travel Bureau, demand has been heavy right through the year, even though there are no direct flights to Larnaca from Qatar. Emirates have also been heavily booked for flights from Doha to Larnaca via Dubai. With a new Republic of Cyprus embassy in Qatar, serving other GCC states, it's easy for travellers who require visas under the new rules, now the country is a member of the EU.

Airfares to from Qatar to India this summer seem likely to remain lower than for the same period last year, although 15 June - 15 July rates showed an increase of QR200-QR300 (US$55-83) over the rates for the same sectors in May. Passengers travelling from Doha to Calicut or Cochin with Indian Airlines between 27 May and 19 June were required to reconfirm their tickets a week before departure; travellers on the same route between 20 June and 15 July were told to present their tickets for reconfirmation a full month before the flight.

In the meantime, according to local media reports, the Indian Cultural and Arts Society (Incas) in Qatar is reportedly to go ahead with preparations to sue both Air India and Indian Airlines, as well India's federal government, for what they call "exorbitant airfares on the Gulf-Kerala sector". Incas representatives have said, however, that they will analyse the new federal government's approach to the issue of airfares, before finally filing the case.

'Long-haul' expatriates in Qatar, for example those from Australia, have continued to take short breaks to a multitude of destinations a three-and-a-half- or four-hour flight away from Doha during the year, but generally seek stopover holidays to break their long flights home in the summer.

The US still appears as an unattractive destination for many nationals and expatriates from Qatar, put off by the prospects of intrusive immigration procedures, long lines and the perceived possibility of humiliating delay and questioning.

Even those needing to travel for family reunions or weddings are expressing reservations over the prospect. Matters haven't been helped by extensive international media coverage of the fate of one British national, a former resident of Qatar, who found himself arrested and handcuffed  after arriving in America - all because of erroneous reports he hadn't paid off a car loan.

Thailand has begun to shake off its 'men only' image as far as many Qatari families are concerned, and up-market resort hotels are proving to be attractive value-for-money destinations for more and more of them.

Dubai still features strongly in the 'weekend rush' - and is expected to do so right through the summer, with those remaining in Qatar in July and August looking for short breaks that won't eat into their holiday entitlement.

As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, an increasing number of nationals are reportedly looking at the prospects of moving to the cooler mountains for part of the summer, taking up the suggestions of the Kingdom's new tourism authority that they remain in the country and enjoy the local sights and facilities. Others are opting to take breaks within the Gulf and the Middle East. Not unexpectedly, few are willing to risk travelling to the US or Europe, fearing discrimination and/or long delays.

Meanwhile, more and more wealthy holiday-makers are skipping the queues, delays and security worries at hub airports and choosing to fly to and from Middle East destinations by executive jet.

With the hottest months of the year now upon us, demand for flights to cities in Europe and Asia is running high, according travel industry experts, while more visitors are using personal jets to reach Middle East from abroad.

"We're enjoying a boom in demand," said Khadar Mattar, sales director at regional private jet operator ExecuJet Middle East.

Hot private jet charter destinations this year include Zurich, London, Maldives, Singapore and Beirut.

"Upmarket travellers are increasingly choosing private jets in preference to scheduled flights," said Mattar. "They enjoy being able to fly exactly where they want, when they want, and in a comfortable, secure and private environment."

According to AME Info's online Leisure Travel Survey 2004, increasing numbers of executives are using the internet (see Chart 1) to source travel and tourism information, but remain reluctant to make online bookings because of concerns over security.

"The internet emerged as by far the most popular tool for researching destinations and comparing travel prices with the vast majority of respondents using it," said Miriam Pensa, director of business intelligence, AME Info. "It is interesting to compare this with the relatively few who now rate traditional materials such as brochures, magazines and books as useful in finding out about holiday options.

"There is a large number of people who use the internet to research their travel plans, but they aren't satisfied with online security issues so they don't actually book. So there is a big pool of people that companies need to reach to persuade them to book online."

Of the executives surveyed, fewer than 15 per cent used the internet to actually make their bookings. As such, travel agents accounted for the vast majority of bookings. Two per cent of those surveyed said they used a combination of internet and travel agent to book. Few of those surveyed used the internet to actually make a booking or pay for flights, accommodation and car hire, for fear of credit card abuse.

"It is important to make the point that this data has been obtained from a group of individuals who, by definition of the fact that they use AME Info, are more internet savvy than the average GCC resident," said Pensa. "They also earn above average salaries - 30 per cent of those who responded to the survey earn above $60,000 per annum. As a result, it is not advisable to assume that this is an accurate representation of the GCC population as a whole.  However, I believe that some of the findings relating to how people research travel will become increasingly relevant as internet usage in the region increases.  Whether this translates into increased online bookings and payments is very much in the hands of the travel and payment card industries who need to work to find reliable solutions to the problems of fraud that people are concerned about."

Top holiday destinations visited recently, as indicated by the survey, include India, UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Thailand and France, while regionally, UAE, Egypt and Lebanon were the most popular (see Chart 2).

"The UK (9.4 per cent) is the main contributor to the high ranking of Europe with France mentioned by 4.7 per cent, Italy and Germany by 2.2 per cent each and Switzerland by 2.0 per cent," said Pensa, pointing out that, in some cases, Europe is listed as a single destination as a number of respondents took trips with multiple destinations within Europe.

"The Far East also features strongly with Thailand (4.9 per cent), Malaysia (3.7 per cent) and Singapore (3.4 per cent) all in the top 10 destinations," she said. "For those taking holidays within the Middle East region, the UAE attracted the most respondents (4.1 per cent) taking 7th place overall with Egypt in 9th place with 3.7 per cent and Lebanon at number 12 with 2.9 per cent.  Jordan and Oman achieved 1.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent of the votes respectively."

The most important factors when planning a holiday destination were judged to be good weather, with over 90 per cent of respondents stating it was very or quite important. This was followed by variety of things to do, history & culture, good beaches and shopping. 

The survey also revealed that three out of the top five preferred airlines for leisure travel are Middle East carriers - a contrast to the previous survey where European and Far Eastern carriers dominated the top positions.

"Events of the past year have raised security concerns and other geopolitical reasons could have had an impact on some of the airlines, including British Airways," said Lars Nielsen, VP sales and marketing, AME Info.

Safety was rated as the most important factor overall when choosing an airline, with nearly 89 per cent of respondents rating it as very important. This was followed by customer service with 70.8 per cent deeming it to be very important, closely followed by price and schedule.

Highlights of the survey include:

¢ The most visited region on respondents' last holiday was Europe.

¢ The most visited destination on respondents' last holiday was India - followed by the UK.

¢ The internet is rated as the most useful source of information for finding information about holidays.

¢ Travel agents are the most frequently used way of making the booking.

¢ 91 per cent of respondents have, at some time, used the internet to research and compare the costs of holidays but only 28.7 per cent have ever paid for travel related services online.

¢ 'Convenience' is the most frequently cited reason for using a credit or charge card to book travel.

¢ Middle East carriers are high in the ratings for preferred airlines for leisure travel.

¢ 'Safety' is the most important consideration when choosing an airline - national carrier is the least.

¢ Hotels have the highest incidence of respondents ever having booked online with more than two thirds having made an online booking at some point.  However, the incidence of a respondent ever having made payment for the hotel booking falls to less than half. Booking and paying for flights are in second place, with car hire faring worst - less than one third of respondents had ever booked a car online.

* AME Info's online Leisure Travel Survey 2004 was conducted over a seven-week period among users of the site, typically high net worth business people with an interest in the Middle East.

A total of 2,663 people from around the world participated in the survey with a GCC component of 1,967 people. The UAE is represented very strongly compared to other markets; this can be explained by the high internet penetration in the UAE. 

This year saw a higher level of participation from Oman, Qatar and Bahrain than previously. In terms of gender, 71 per cent of respondents were male and 29 per cent female. 

Age-wise, over 73 per cent were between the ages of 26 and 45.

The survey is available to buy for $295. See www.ameinfo.com for further details.

© Middle East Travel 2004

 

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