Saudi Arabia is expecting online transactions to hit $1.9bn next year according to figures released by Travelport.
If expectations are met, it would amount to a near doubling in web sales since 2011 when the figure was $1bn.
The research, carried out by PhoCusWright, looks at the rapidly growing online travel market across 10 Middle East countries including United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar.
The offline travel agency sector in Saudi Arabia is also witnessing significant growth with figures in the study estimating it to be worth $11.9bn in 2014 compared to $9.8bn in 2011.
In line with the growing sector, Travelport has announced a number of initiatives focusing on Saudi Arabia including:
- Launch of desktop solution Travelport Smartpoint 3.0 and the continued extension of its Merchandising Platform and Universal API.
- Latest version of itinerary management tool Travelport View Trip Mobile to be unveiled next year.
- Ongoing investment in Saudi Arabia’s travel trade.
- Focus on remote regions in 2014 following the recruitment of five key account sales executives this year.
Further details on the Travelport-PhoCusWright report entitled 'Assessing the Online Travel Opportunity: The Middle East' can be found
here.
NB: Abu Dhabi image via Shutterstock.