Some 180 Saudi travel agents joined global travel distributor GTA in Riyadh early last month to take advantage of the coming peak travel season.
The number of room nights booked around the world by Saudi travellers has been showing a healthy 13 per cent annual growth since 2010. Rami Mashini, vice-president of sales for the Middle East and Africa, says: “Powering global travel, GTA helps thousands of Saudis to explore their own countries and international destinations year after year. The strength of our relationships in Saudi Arabia reassures hotels worldwide that they can rely on us to bring them a wealth of business.
“With the Premium Room Collection particularly, they have given us great deals at one of the busiest times in their year so our agents can take advantage and make their clients’ trips that extra bit special.”
GTA unveiled its g shop, Strategic Partnership Program and Premium Room Collection in Riyadh with a series of
presentations:
The Premium Room Collection puts the best hotel stays within the reach of any traveller’s budget. GTA has secured additional availability between July 1 and September 30 – one of the busiest times of the year – and fantastic rates for premium room categories. It is urging Saudi travel agents to inspire the travelling public to upgrade their accommodation.
Retail and wholesale travel agents who book trips that depart between July 1 and September 30 this year can take advantage of free upgrades, stay four pay three deals or up to 50 per cent savings in premium category rooms and executive suites.
More than 500 offers are available at three- to five-star hotels in more than 30 locations from Amsterdam and Bangkok to Tokyo and Vienna with New York and Paris between.
New loyalty programme g shop, www.gshop-mea.com, allows enrolled agents to earn points for every booking they make and redeem them for smartphones, tablets, shopping vouchers, theme park tickets and more. First launched across 11 Asian countries in 2012, more than $2 million in rewards has been given away already.
Rami adds: “The Middle East remains one of our most successful regions. Since 2010, we have enjoyed double digit increases every year on average (CAGR) with healthy growth already predicted for 2015.”
Over 70 per cent of source markets in the Middle East and Africa region booked increasing numbers of room nights through GTA last year.