A new travel survey commissioned by Visa to assess the travel habits of UAE residents has revealed that only 24 percent of those surveyed book package deals through a travel agent.
The majority (54 percent) prefer to book their own trips online, while 19 percent said they booked through airlines.
Visa surveyed more than 205 adults in the UAE in the run-up to Eid on topics such as frequency of travel, preferred destinations, trip types, as well as spending habits whilst on holiday.
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The results of the survey showed that UAE residents take an average of one to two leisure trips a year, with 20 percent of those surveyed stating that they took more than five holidays each year.
In terms of the frequency of holidays taken, almost 50 percent of respondents claimed that there was no change in their travel habits in the past 18 months, with almost a quarter stating that their holidays had actually increased despite the recent economic downturn.
83 percent of people surveyed in the UAE said that they did not plan on taking fewer holidays this year, although 51 percent of those surveyed said that they were planning on spending less on their next holiday. Visiting family was the top preference for UAE travellers, followed by a resort or beach holiday.
India, Turkey, Malaysia, Switzerland and the UK were the top five holiday destinations for UAE travellers.
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Mar 22, 2011 , Qatar
Middle East is way behind the OTAs of other regions and there are too many challenges for a local, regional OTA to kick off in getting people to book and pay online - the challenges are many, government, regulation, technical, social
Sep 29, 2010 , United Arab Emirates
not the whole picture. yes the onkline is taking moe anf mpre maret share but i this market there is still a place for thr travek agent , especially here as people are not so web savvy as they are in other markets. i dont thnk this survey tells the whole story