Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for almost 80% of Middle East and North Africa business trips booked on corporate travel platform Tumodo in the third quarter, the company said on October 8.
The figures show business demand recovering through a disrupted year, with costs rising. Trips on the UAE-based platform rose 112% year on year in July-September and spending 132%, while the average air ticket climbed 36% from the first quarter to $615. The data predate this month’s attacks on Riyadh’s airport, the busiest destination on Tumodo’s MENA network.
“September confirmed that the autumn business season is back,” said Mohanad Nada, Head of GCC at Tumodo. “Jet fuel is still close to double its pre-conflict level. We advise companies to book early and keep their travel policies flexible.”
Saudi Arabia generated 48.6% of the platform’s MENA trips and the UAE 31.1%, with Egypt third at about 6.4%. Riyadh and Dubai were the top cities, followed by Kazakhstan’s Astana and Almaty. Jeddah-Riyadh, Riyadh-Dubai and Dubai-Riyadh were the busiest regional city pairs, and Astana-Almaty was the busiest route on the platform overall.
September was the busiest month for bookings, with daily volumes 13% above August. Fares fell in September to about 15% below August, which Tumodo attributed partly to a shift in route mix. The average hotel booking was $663 for a stay of 4.7 nights.
Emirates, Saudia, Air Astana, Turkish Airlines and IndiGo were the most used airlines. Tumodo expects fourth-quarter demand to stay close to September levels.
Tumodo is a UAE-based online platform that lets companies plan, book and manage business travel.
Image: B.alotaby via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0