Subscribe
Login
Business Travel

Saudi Arabia Businesses May Finally Adopt Digital Travel Booking Due to Pandemic

Matthew Parsons

Skift Take

You can't change culture overnight, but there could be opportunities for corporate travel agencies to make their mark — if they're willing to take the kingdom's ambitious modernization plan seriously.

Tourism may be getting some traction in Saudi Arabia, not least because residents aren’t permitted to leave while its neighbors are allowed in. But it’s a different story for the corporate travel sector, one of the kingdom's biggest agencies is discovering. Seera Group, which manages corporate travel through its Elaa division and holidays via its Almosafer brand, is seeing a faster leisure recovery due to an international flight ban and a culture of booking business trips offline. Comparisons can be drawn with China, which is seeing a domestic tourism revival, but in Saudi Arabia, digital penetration is a lot lower; business trips are mostly booked using small independent agencies.

Join Us For Our Skift Aviation Forum Online Conference November 19

Abdulrahman Mutrib, Seera's executive vice president and group chief technology officer, estimates Elaa is used by just 5 percent of businesses in the kingdom. "We’re barely scratching the surface of the corporate travel market," he said. Back to School With the pandemic forcing companies to rethink the way they operate, Mutrib said he wants to tap into demand from those businesses willing to explore new ways to save costs to help their recovery. "We still have faith in the corporate business, that things will recover fast next year. That’s why we’ve been investing in technology and new platforms. We’ll be ready to serve clients," he said. "There's going to be a lot of education, aw

Get unlimited access with Skift Pro.

Subscribe now for complete access to Skift.com's trusted coverage of the travel industry.

Apple Pay, Google Pay, Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, Discover, American Express

Already a subscriber? Login