Demand increases as summer vacation nears end

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 17: The cost of a flight ticket to return to Kuwait has become five times the price of a flight ticket from Kuwait to the same destination, reports Al-Anba daily. Active destinations recorded departure ticket prices costing less than KD 20 but return tickets costing between KD 140 and KD 190 during the current days. According to traders in the travel and tourism sector, the rise in prices for returning to Kuwait is natural with the approaching end of the summer vacation when return tickets to Kuwait become the most in demand. Reservations are witnessing a continuous increase, which increased the rate of demand, and the prices along with it.

Opportunity
Citizens and residents who are not currently connected to any work or study dates have an opportunity to plan and start a vacation at a lower cost as long as they leave during the current period, and return after the schools open. A member of the Union of Travel and Tourism Offices Abdul Rahman Al- Kharafi said the current period is witnessing an increased demand for reservations for incoming flights to Kuwait compared to departing flights, which contributed to the rise in ticket prices. He revealed that the prices of tickets for flights departing from Kuwait are witnessing a significant decline, especially for some destinations that have a weak turnout near the end of the summer vacation, including Alexandria and Assiut in Egypt, which reached low prices of nearly KD 20 to only depart, while it costs KD 27 to travel to Cairo. Al-Kharafi said he expects the prices of flight tickets to return to Kuwait to decrease after mid-September, with the beginning of the new school year, as the majority of traveling citizens and residents will have returned to the country.

This will reduce the demand for return tickets, which will reduce their prices severely and will provide the opportunity for many to travel back and forth at competitive prices. Meanwhile, Director General of Bash Aviation Company for Travel and Tourism Muhammad Bashir said the increase in the prices of return tickets to Kuwait comes within a normal framework, especially since the current period until the start of schools constitutes the season for travelers returning from annual summer holidays, which raises the demand for tickets. He said, “Some Egyptian destinations recorded ticket prices below KD 20 from Kuwait, prices that we have not seen over the past few years, not to mention other touristic destinations for which Kuwaiti citizens are in high demand, whose ticket prices are KD 50 and less, such as Istanbul, Beirut and Baku, while the price for traveling to London dropped to KD 147”. Furthermore, Director of Sales Department at Al-KharafiTravels Naji Khader explained that the increasing demand for return tickets to Kuwait by citizens comes mainly from European destinations, Turkey and Thailand.

The ticket prices from London to Kuwait are reaching the level of KD 204, from Istanbul to Kuwait about KD 226, and KD 110 from Baku. Among the destinations from which residents come to Kuwait such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and India, there is an increased demand, with the prices of return tickets from Jordan to Kuwait between KD 150 and KD 220. The prices of return tickets from Cairo and Alexandria range between KD 140 and more than KD 160, and from Beirut about KD 176. Khader said he expects the prices of return tickets to Kuwait to witness a drop of up to 70 percent in the middle of next month. In addition, Director of the “Red Sea” Company for Travel and Tourism Sherif Bazaza said the high prices of return tickets to Kuwait are currently a normal thing.

Tourism
The travel and tourism market usually witnesses this with the end of the summer season due to the great demand for return tickets, as they coincide with the return of students, teachers, residents and travelers from abroad simultaneously before the start of the next academic year. This increases the level of demand for tickets, more than the number of seats offered, and thus is reflected in the ticket prices, which increases automatically. Bazaza added that ticket prices do not differ whether booked in Kuwait or abroad.