UK, UAE, Turkey & Egypt main target for travelers – Ticket rates jump from 70-150%
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KUWAIT CITY, April 30: Nationals and residents in Kuwait began to plan their Eid Al-Fitr traveling vacations, which seem to thrive in the last few months with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic subsiding. Several tourism experts told KUNA that Eid travelers from Kuwait had chosen the UK, the UAE, Turkey, and Egypt as their main destinations during the long holiday this year, noting that flight tickets were on high demand. The experts indicated that the price of tickets had jumped between 70 to 150 percent in some cases.
The available prices of tickets during Eid Al-Fitr had been thoroughly studied, indicated Kuwait Airways’ Director of Corporate Communication and Public Relations, Wael Al-Hasawi, adding that they had to increase flights during Eid to accommodate more passengers. Al-Hasawi indicated that travelers from Kuwait were keen on seeking new destinations include Nice in France, Mykonos in Greece, and Salalah in Oman, Izmir in Turkey and others. On his part, member of the board for the union of tourism and travel agencies in Kuwait Hussain Al-Sulaiteen revealed that there was a 150 percent increase in ticket prices averaging between KD 300 to 400 (around USD 979.6 to USD 1,306).
He predicted that more people would seek traveling via Kuwait Airways this vacation due to the opening of new destinations, adding that people prefer direct destination over layovers. Al-Sulaiteen said that people were seeking travel to new destinations such as Georgia due to cheap ticket prices, which currently stood at KD 165 to 180 (USD 538.7 to USD 587.7). As for popular destinations on Kuwait Airways, he predicted that there would be an increase in tickets demands for destinations such Manchester, UK, and Casablanca, Morocco. There was huge increase in prices of travel tickets this Eid occasion, said a local travel booker Nasib Adnan.
Adnan revealed that the price had jumped by 70 percent compared to the period prior to Eid Al-Fitr. He affirmed that the number of travelers would witness an increase with entities like Kuwait Airways opening new destinations. A recent report by International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that air travel witnessed a surge last February compared to January of 2021 due to the subsiding of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traveling last February had increased by 115.9 percent compared to the same period in 2021, according to the IATA report. In the Middle East, the report revealed that travel activities had increased by 215.3 percent last February compared to the same period last year. (By Mohammad Al-Mutairi – KUNA)
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