Tag Archives: Almosafer

Almosafer, and Klook have together launched the first ever holistic tours and activities platform for the KSA market, Almosafer activities. The launch follows the signing of an agreement between the two travel industry powerhouses in early 2022 to establish the joint venture with the purpose of creating a holistic B2B marketplace for activities in the Kingdom, addressing a gap in the market which has thus far largely seen fragmented options for bookable ‘things to do’. Almosafer Activities is a one-stop digital platform with end-to-end content and inventory management solutions that supports tourism and leisure activity merchants in Saudi Arabia, as well as distributors across the globe, to provide an unprecedented choice of product offering for travellers to, from, and within the Kingdom. The platform, which will go live for distributors in Q3 2023, will leverage Klook’s position as a leading global distributor of experiences and services and enable domestic and international tourists to book activities with ease. Almosafer Activities will provide seamless booking experiences, connecting Saudi Arabia travellers to global platforms, starting with Klook. The launch of Almosafer Activities supports the tourism agenda of Saudi Vision 2030 by boosting inbound and domestic tourism. The platform will also support small and medium-sized merchants by providing them with a platform and exposure to more distribution channels. Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority, said: “Saudi is setting the pace for global tourism development. We are currently undergoing a remarkable transformation and experiencing unprecedented growth, positioning ourselves as the world’s largest investor in tourism – this presents an exciting opportunity for both our existing and new partners. “The launch of Almosafer Activities represents another significant stride towards establishing …

Almosafer (part of Seera Group), has signed a partnership agreement with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce to develop Saudi talent for the travel and tourism sector. The partnership will enable Almosafer to expand the reach of its in-house training programme, Almosafer Academy, which equips young Saudi nationals with the necessary skills and industry knowledge needed to succeed and grow as travel advisors or other industry professions. Almosafer and the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce will work together to enable more university students in Saudi Arabia to apply to Almosafer Academy. Fahad Alobailan, Chief Tourism Officer of Almosafer, said: “This partnership with the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce will help accelerate our efforts to develop the necessary human capital for a sustainable travel and tourism industry. As our industry grows, there is a wealth of opportunity for young Saudis to embark on successful careers. I am pleased we are doing our part in championing young talent as we continue to support the tourism agenda of Saudi Vision 2030.” Naif Abdullah Al-Rajhi, Second Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors Riyadh Chamber and Chairman of the Tourism Committee, said: “We are pleased to be collaborating with Almosafer. This partnership is poised to significantly enhance human competencies, underpinning the growth of the travel and tourism sectors and aligning seamlessly with the Kingdom’s strategic mission to cultivate and advance Saudi talents, inspiring them to pioneer and lead initiatives across diverse disciplines.” The signing took place at the inaugural Tourism Investment Forum in Riyadh which was sponsored by Almosafer. Fahad Alobailan, Chief Tourism Officer at Almosafer, moderated a panel discussion on private sector investments with Her Highness Princess Haifa Bint Mohammed Al Saud, Vice Minister of Tourism, …

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) has signed another partnership agreement with Almosafer, Saudi Arabia’s leading travel company (part of Seera Group) to boost inbound tourism to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its multiple business operating under the Almosafer umbrella. Under the agreement, Almosafer will promote inbound tourism to the Kingdom from the GCC through its consumer segment. Almosafer will also promote inbound tourism to its B2B customers in the Middle East and North Africa region through Mawasim, its Hajj and Umrah tour operator, and through Discover Saudi, its destination management company. The agreement was signed by Fahad Alobailan, Chief Tourism Officer at Almosafer, and Munirah Abanomy, Head of Marketing Partnerships for Middle East & Africa at the Saudi Tourism Authority, at the Saudi Pavilion at the Arabian Travel Market. Fahad Alobailan, Chief Tourism Officer at Almosafer, said: “We continue to build on our longstanding relationship with the STA, working together to achieve the goals of Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has a plethora of incredible cultural, natural, historical and religious attractions that are drawing in an increasing number of international tourists. We have seen a significant increase in demand for inbound tourism to the Kingdom and we will continue our role in enabling this continued growth.” Commenting on this agreement, Abdulkarim Aldarwish, President of the Middle East & Africa Markets at the Saudi Tourism Authority, said: “The Saudi Tourism Authority is keen to conclude fruitful agreements and strategic partnerships with major travel companies in the Kingdom. We look forward to achieving our common strategic goals and working to empower and advance business growth for our partners in the private tourism sector in the Kingdom. Through the agreement with Almosafer, we …

Almosafer and The Tourism Authority of Thailand signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) to boost tourism between the Kingdom of Thailand and GCC countries. Almosafer’s consumer segment and The Tourism Authority of Thailand will work together to promote and develop quality tourism experiences in Thailand for travellers from GCC countries, with a focus on key niche markets including sport tourism, luxury tourism, and health and wellness tourism. Muzzammil Ahussain, Executive Vice President of Almosafer, said: “The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with The Tourism Authority of Thailand today is an important step in meeting the growing demand for tourism from the GCC to Thailand. This partnership will provide our consumers with the best experiences while strengthening ties between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Thailand. Thailand is an increasingly popular destination and we look forward to working together with The Tourism Authority to enable many visitors from the GCC to experience all that Thailand has to offer.” The MOC follows the announcement on 9 March 2022 permitting Saudi nationals to travel to Thailand which marked the end of a travel ban for nationals wanting to visit the popular Southeast Asian destination. Since the announcement, Almosafer has experienced huge growth in demand for travel from Saudi Arabia to Thailand with a 470% increase in demand compared to January 2022 and a 268% increase compared to February 2022. Thailand is currently a very popular international destination for visitors from the GCC, especially from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where Thailand ranks in the top 5 and top 9 international destinations respectively. During the month of May to date, searches for Thailand on Almosafer’s platform grew by 1100% in Saudi …

Almosafer is revealing  key insights into Saudi nationals’ travel preferences one month into open borders. Almosafer’s study examined consumers’ searches and bookings over the period of 17th May -16th June 2021 compared to the same period pre-pandemic in 2019 and found promising signs of travel revival as KSA travellers venture out to explore the world again and continue to explore the vast tourism offering in the kingdom. The findings solidify the results of Almosafer’s second extensive travel sentiment survey conducted earlier this year which unveiled that over 80% of Saudi respondents are planning to travel internationally within the first six months of border opening. Since the resumption of international travel from the kingdom last month, Almosafer has recovered 76% of total bookings compared to the same time in 2019 and expects this percentage to further increase by Q4 to exceed pre-pandemic booking volume as more travel restrictions are lifted and more destinations reopen for visitors across the world. The data also shows that domestic travel is in high demand due to the growing appeal of local destinations amongst Saudi nationals, as well as the breadth of offer created by Almosafer from bespoke packages to a variety of bookable tours and attractions available on the brand’s domestic activities marketplace. Almosafer has allocated significant funds, research, and product development efforts to boost its domestic offering, in line with the Kingdoms’ wider agenda to enhance the tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy and will continue to do so with several innovative product launches planned in the coming months. Top local destinations include Jeddah, Riyadh, Al Khobar and Dammam, while new trending destinations that gained popularity over the past year are Al Jubail, …

Almosafer announced the launch of a host of new domestic tourism activities that can be booked through the brand’s omnichannel platforms. Almosafer’s activities marketplace has been designed to enhance the domestic tourism offering in the Kingdom and provide a diverse range of local destinations that Saudis can discover in their home country, with a focus on cultural and adventure experiences. The activities will feature a variety of bookable tours and attractions from across the Kingdom, carefully selected and curated by Almosafer’s expert travel advisors for a customised and unique experience. The launch comes in support of Saudi Arabia’s expansion of tourism-related infrastructure, and its focus on establishing the country as a leading destination for tourism and entertainment both domestically and regionally. The newly introduced bookable activities are amongst the first in Saudi Arabia to offer tailored domestic tours, giving residents the chance to re-discover their cities and experience the country’s growing cultural and adventure scene from a new perspective. Fahad Alobailan, VP of Retail at Almosafer said, “As the leading omni-channel travel brand in the Kingdom, we recognise the growing significance of domestic tourism in light of the global situation and restrictions on international travel. Due to our expertise and understanding of the Saudi market, we were able to curate a marketplace of domestic activities which can be booked across our omnichannel platforms including call centres, WhatsApp and in-store travel advisors, as well as via the app and website. Our objective is to give Saudi nationals the opportunity to rediscover their country and enjoy the abundance of its tourism offering especially on the cultural and adventure sides. Through these activities it’s now possible to book seamlessly on-the-go or plan in …

Almosafer has launched a dedicated safety guidelines platform that will feed into the travel booking funnel providing up-to-date information about the guidelines of the country of departure and the requirements at the destination country. The move comes in response to the findings of Almosafer’s dedicated survey around post COVID-19 travel for Saudi Arabia, which found that 60% of Saudi travellers want to know the social distancing and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) rules applicable in-destination before making any travel decisions, while clarity on safety measures taken by hotels and airlines was considered critical for 55% travellers to help in building confidence and come to a decision. The survey also found that travellers from Saudi Arabia specifically require an all-encompassing view of the destination they will choose,with over 55% stating that information about potential quarantine periods and the availability of tourist attractions, dining options etc. is crucial in making an informed travel decision. Ronnie Varghese, Senior Director Digital at Almosafer said, “With our advisory platform, we aim to provide levels of information our customers deem important and trustworthy in making a travel decision. Sourcing and providing this information is quite challenging as data comes from fragmented and disparate sources with varying degrees of accuracy, clarity, recency, authority and language availability. The next phases of this effort will be to automate much of this process to make the solution more scalable for more destinations and additional data points.” Fahad Alobailan, VP of Retail at Almosafer said, “Through Almosafer’s dedicated safety guidelines, we will be able to offer customers the information and guidelines they need to plan their trips. These guidelines will be utilized across the booking funnel online and used by our travel …

Amadeus and Seera Group have strengthened their partnership to drive technology innovation in the region’s tourism sector. This follows a year of successful partnership between the two leading entities that led to significant digital transformation of travel and tourism services offered by Seera Group and helped enhance its all-round business efficiency. With the renewed partnership, Seera Group works closely with Amadeus to strengthen its online business further, integrating digital touch-points across all its operations, including its flagship corporate and government travel business, elaa. As the travel tech provider across Seera’s diverse portfolio of services, Amadeus brings cutting-edge innovation and state-of-the-art tech tools that enhance customer service standards and bring higher operational efficiency across the Group. In other highlights of the successful partnership, Amadeus is supporting Seera Group in expanding its omni-channel consumer travel business, Almosafer, across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and beyond, in addition to the ongoing digitisation of booking services for corporate and government travel via elaa. Amadeus has been an ongoing strategic partner of Seera Group and has provided a host of technical support that helped consolidate the Group’s online business through tools such as Touchless that scaled up its efficiency of operations. Seera will implement the latest Amadeus solutions relating to hotel content, virtual credit card payment capabilities, fare optimisation solutions and content via NDC (New Distribution Capability) connectivity. The Group will also implement new products by Amadeus to enhance operational efficiency.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) and SEERA (previously Al Tayyar Travel Group), one of the region’s leading providers of travel services in the Middle East and North Africa, have signed a strategic partnership agreement which will see both entities unite to further strengthen travel demand from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the emirate. Working together previously on a variety of projects, the reinvigorated partnership between the department and Almosafer; SEERA’S consumer travel brand which recorded more than 100,000 bookings from Saudi Arabian travellers to Dubai in 2018, will see promotional opportunities implemented through the ongoing alliance. Almosafer will embrace a new omni-channel approach, offering its customers the choice and freedom to book their travel itineraries across online and offline touchpoints, reaffirming its commitment to promoting Dubai as a top destination for Saudi Arabian travellers. Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), said, “Dubai continues to rank among the most popular destinations for holidaymakers from across the GCC with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remaining in second place as one of our leading source markets in Q1 2019.” Almosafer will offer special hotel and flight deals exclusively for KSA travellers to Dubai, highlighting the top things-to-do in the city, iconic attractions, as well as travel tips across diverse targeted marketing channels. The brand will also create special Dubai-centric holiday packages, tailored to a variety of travel segments, including couples, families, individuals or business travellers. Abdullah Bin Nasser Aldawood, CEO of SEERA commented on the partnership, “Almosafer caters for a real range of Saudi travellers and we know, from our 40 years’ worth of travel knowledge and experience, what the varied …

Saudi Arabia-based Almosafer has released its new flight reservation feature for both their web and mobile App platforms. The service is valid for customers travelling to and from the Kingdom through more than 500 airlines globally. Farooq Aljeraisy, the founder and CEO of Almosafer, said, “The Kingdom is currently undergoing a revolutionary transformation under the leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to achieve sustainable development to build a brighter economy. One of the key sectors witnessing this change is travel and tourism. We are in sync with all the progress in this sector and are positioning Almosafer as a spearhead in this development. ” Aljeraisy confirmed that users can now compare flight rates and instantly get the best possible rates through the mobile application, making it easier, safer and more convenient than traditional booking channels. Once the booking is confirmed, customers will instantly receive their ticket and confirmation through email. The portal also provides a call center to re-confirm any amendments and address any inquiries about the booking. Since it was established in 2013, Almosafer has successfully enabled customers across the world to choose from over 500,000 hotels and resorts seamlessly in the most convenient manner through its website, call center (920000997) and other digital platforms. Customers have also taken advantage of the “book now and pay later” service the portal offers, which has disrupted the e-booking service across the industry.