The number of reservations for external travel during Eid Al-Fitr increased 80 percent, in comparison with other days, and ticket prices witnessed a slight increase of 15 percent.
Specialists at travel offices confirmed that the increased reservations were due to the summer and the Eid holidays. The hot weather of the Kingdom encouraged Saudi families to travel outside the Kingdom for their holidays. They pointed out that the majority of Saudi families confirmed their reservations by mid-Ramadan, estimating the value of reservations to exceed SR10 million.
Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamidi, the owner of a travel office, confirmed that the increased external reservations reached 80 percent in comparison with normal days because the summer holiday coincided with the Eid and the hot weather conditions, in addition to the start of entertainment programs to attract more tourists. He pointed out that the majority of offices started to deal with each other and exchange flight reservations between them.
Abdullah Al-Zahiri, a sales director at a travel office, said the majority of families started to confirm their reservations by mid-Ramadan, which contributed to the increase of external reservations by 70 to 80 percent, in comparison with other days. Ticket prices increased by 15 percent, he said.
Omar Mohammad, a reservations specialist at a travel office, said Sharm Al-Sheikh and Cairo were two of the favorite destinations for Saudi families, followed by Dubai, Indonesia and Turkey. This made travel companies focus on increasing the number flights to these areas, and offer more services to these flights to cover the increased demand, in addition to attracting more passengers.
Mohammad Zaki, a sales director at Turkish Airlines, said prices rise during the Eid period by 10 to 15 percent because of the increased demand to travel outside the Kingdom and the increased number of flights by airline companies to destinations favored by Saudi families, reported Al-Madinah.

Source: Arab News