Wego has recorded a surge in site visits, searches and revenue during this year’s Ramadan, marking the highest numbers since opening its regional office in Dubai in 2013.
Travel searches throughout July increased by over 50% on the previous month, with the majority of searches stemming from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Kuwait.
Dubai topped the list for flight searches, followed closely by Cairo, Jeddah, Istanbul and Jakarta, while the most popular hotel searches originated from Dubai, Mecca, Jeddah, Medina and Abu Dhabi.
“Traditionally Ramadan is a slow period for business in general, and online travel in particular throughout the region,” Wego Dubai’s Mamoun Hmedan said.
Wego has experienced popularity in the Middle East as travellers in the region turn to the convenience and simplicity of planning and booking their travel online.
“Our introduction of the world’s first hotel and airline travel app in Arabic has been truly appreciated by the thousands of travellers in the region as smartphone usage continues to grow,” Hmedan said.
“Wego has featured in the top five travel apps on iTunes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait. Clearly travellers are responding favourably to the app especially in KSA where smartphone penetration is the highest in the world.”
Wego also recorded a higher number of searches for historical Muslim locations, with almost 2000 new city pairs during Ramadan that were not recorded in the previous month.
“Oman travellers searched for flights to Goa in India, and Saudis targeted Hangzhou in China; another location with a strong Muslim heritage that dates back to the mid-1800s when it was described as the stronghold of Islam in China,” Hmedan said.
