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Middle East travellers prove expensive acquisitions

Price is one of the best ways to attract new passengers according to the ArabianBusiness.com Travel Survey 2008. However, to make a loyal passenger switch from a rival deep discounts are required.

Carriers looking to woo the Gulf’s increasingly large and well-travelled populace must look to offer lower fares if they hope to win them over from their preferred carrier, according to the findings.
Results from the study revealed that price was by far the largest consideration for travellers when choosing an airline.

However, while respondents claimed price sensitivity, they also said they could not be bought easily.

Almost two thirds of respondents (63.79%) said it would take a discount of between 20-30% for them to switch from their preferred carrier. Almost another quarter (23.3%) indicated it would take a discount of 40% to lure them away from their favourite airline.

Less than one in ten (9.3%) said that price was not an issue while just 3.41% indicated they would switch carriers for less than a 10% discount.

The large discounts required to buy customers explains why airlines prefer alternative marketing strategies to entice travellers to switch brands.

The most important factor in choosing an airline, ranked as either most important or important by respondents to the survey, was flight availability, partly explaining why Emirates fared so well in terms of brand loyalty in the survey.

Emirates was the preferred airline of 36.56% of respondents, dwarfing second placed Etihad Airways which has won over 6.8% of respondents.

Factors travellers look for in choosing an airline came in this order: flight availability, price, quality of seat, ease of checking in, online checking in, airport locations, being able to use travel miles, in flight entertainment, use of the latest airlines, and finally being member of an airline club.

When asked what would make people travel with discount carriers more often, price was the largest single factor.

Near to one two in five (39.96%) indicated price was the one factor that could convince them to travel more often on less expensive carriers, compared to only 14.7% who though better service was the key and 13.8% who desired more long-distance connections.

Travellers residing in Kuwait were found to be the most likely to be persuaded by price to travel more by discount carriers as 57.14% thought it was the most important selling point for them.

Those living in Kuwait were also found to be among the most loyal to their preferred carriers. Almost two thirds (64.28%) said it would take a special discount offer of between 30% and 40% to lure them from their favourite carrier.

Travellers who reside outside the GCC are also almost three times more likely to cite better service as the most effective way to get them flying with discount carriers more often.

More than one quarter (28%) of non-GCC residing respondents indicated that better service might tempt them to increase discount carrier flights, compared with only 9.5% of GCC residents.

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