Saudi-based Al Tayyar Travel Group has launched a full-scale platform to help achieve its plan to hit $1 billion sales in less than five years through its online platform and application.
Tajawal, the group’s online travel platform for airline tickets and hotel bookings, crossed the $1 million sales figure in the first six weeks of its beta-testing phase.
Since then, the online platform has exceeded its projected sales targets by 30 percent in
the first four months of operation.
In line with Al Tayyar’s plans to make a multi-hundred-million US-dollar investment push into the online space, the travel group announced plans to rapidly expand over the next three to five years, the company said in a statement.
“As a group, we have decided to massively push into the e-commerce place and have started to deploy a multi-hundred-million US-dollar amount to back our ambitions. In addition to our investments in existing online players in various segments, we have established Tajawal to become our online and mobile focused technology hub,” said Al Tayyar Travel Group CEO Abdullah Bin Nasser Aldawood.
“Not only do we regard Tajawal as an additional line of business contributing to our top as well as bottom line results, we also aim to shape the future of the home-grown travel industry in the Middle East, especially considering that online travel bookings will account for over 35 percent of regional travel and tourism sales by end of 2017,” he added.
Tajawal founder and CEO Muhammad Chbib said the online travel market offers a multi-billion dollar opportunity that is largely untapped in the region.
“We aim to fill this gap by creating a travel platform for mobile and web, based on an understanding of localised requirements. We firmly believe that in order to become MENA’s first choice for travel bookings, you need to be deeply rooted in the region. In addition, we very much benefit from our international online and technology experience, which will enable us to innovate in areas such as Halal Travel and Islamic Tourism in addition to personal and corporate travel management,” added Chbib.
At present 75 percent of Tajawal’s sales is generated from the website, while 25 percent comes from its free mobile applications.
Saudi Arabian customers account for 65% of bookings, while the remaining 35 percent originate mostly in the UAE.
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