Data analysts and OTAs share updates on Middle East

The on-off conflict in the Gulf was top of the agenda at this week’s WIT Middle East event.

Bigger-picture data deep dives were shared in separate sessions by Dave Goodger from Oxford Economics, Virendra Jain from VIDEC and Gemma Timmons from OAG. There was a consensus that demand in the region would recover, but the speed and scale of the reset would vary between countries, reflecting their specific market dynamics.

For example, Saudi Arabia has been the least impacted because it is dependent on two sectors: domestic travel, which was not significantly hit, and religious tourism which remains at previous levels.

In contrast, Dubai’s reliance on connecting traffic and strong inbound tourism flows saw its numbers shrink more than other countries in the region, registering a c65% drop.

As well as hearing about the data, attendees were told how some of the leading global OTAs see their role in helping the region accelerate its recovery. Alberto Yates is the regional director for booking.com in the Middle East. “We are repositioning in the GCC countries,” he said. “We have the demand, we have the supply, so we can support the region in driving that demand into the right destinations”.

Trip.com’s managing director of international markets, Boon Sian Chai, reminded the audience that trip.com has been investing in the region for the past few years. “We see this as an opportunity to consolidate our current position, to drive the domestic business. Despite the crisis, there are a lot of opportunities,” he said.

In a separate session, Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder of regional OTA Wego, noted that intra-regional travel was recovering well, in contrast to inbound tourism flows across the region which are still being constrained by not only “the perception in source markets” but also “misleading travel advisories and the insurance cost follow-ons”.

But he is confident that, despite the possibility of continued instability, the long-term prospects are strong. “The macro stuff is still important,” he said. “You still have a young population, and the sovereign wealth funds are committed to investing in the industries of tomorrow, and that includes tourism.”