Tag Archives: forwardkeys ramadan travel update

The latest data from ForwardKeys reveals that the tradition of travelling at the end of Ramadan is making a significant revival this year. As of 13th April, outbound flight bookings from the Middle East for travel covering the last ten days of the festival (22nd April – 2nd May) reached 64% or pre-pandemic levels, a 220% increase on travel during the equivalent period last year. The outbound market set to recover most strongly is Bahrain, where booked departures are up to 90% of 2019 levels. It is followed by Jordan, 86%, the UAE, 84%, Qatar, 75% and Kuwait 68%. Deeper analysis of the outbound markets reveals that a major feature is expat workers travelling home. For example, the top destinations from the UAE are Pakistan and India and from Bahrain are the UAE, India and Bangladesh. The stand-out destination for Middle Eastern holidaymakers is set to be the Maldives, ahead by 178% on 2019. Bookings for France, 2% ahead, Pakistan, 2% behind, Bangladesh, 3% behind and the UK, 3% behind, are all extremely healthy compared to the end of Ramadan last year. The next best performing destinations are the UAE, 12% behind, Turkey and the Philippines, both 21% behind, Thailand 24% behind and Spain 26% behind. Looking at bookings for the UK, which is traditionally one of the most popular tourist destinations during this period, there is a significant difference in interest from the various source markets. Flight bookings from the UAE, which is the largest, are just 2% behind 2019. Bookings from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are 17% and 10% behind respectively, whereas bookings from Kuwait and Egypt are 32% and 59% ahead respectively. The recovery is also showing …

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