Safarna eyes slice of region’s $50bn travel market

Company was founded as a sister website to Cobone, offering discount holiday vouchers.

Pieter Sleeboom, Safarna’s co-founder and chief operating officer, says there is a huge opportunity in the online market. Sarah Dea / The National

The holiday deals website Safarna, the brainchild of the Cobone.com founder Paul Kenny, is looking to become the region’s travel portal of choice.

The company, formerly named Triperna, was founded 14 months ago as a sister website to Cobone, offering discount holiday vouchers.

Backed by the hedge fund Tiger Global Management, it will operate as an independent company from January after the founders of Expatwoman.com bought out Cobone’s stake for an undisclosed sum this month.

“The travel market in the region is worth US$50 billion (Dh183.63bn),” said Pieter Sleeboom, Safarna’s co-founder and chief operating officer. “Currently 20 per cent of that is spent online, so there is a huge opportunity in the market.”

The market, however, is becoming more crowded – the likes of Holiday Factory, Vaya Travel and international players are turning their attention to the region.

“They’re making quite big inroads to traditional forms of bookings,” said Peter Goddard, the managing director at TRI Hospitality Consulting. “The problem is that, from a hotelier’s standpoint, it invariably puts a lot of pressure on the average daily rate. Hoteliers would be disinclined to go down that route.”

The region’s online travel market is not as developed as those in Europe and the United States.

Many expatriates are familiar with booking.com and Expedia, and are sticking with those international sites.

“What we want to do is to be the leading travel agency in the Middle East. Our revenues have been growing 10 per cent month on month,” said Mr Sleeboom. “What we offer now is a combination of hotel search and discount deals.”

Safarna has incorporated hotel accommodation on its website and offers discounts for 300,000 hotels around the world for its claimed 2 million subscribers.

Although e-commerce is booming in the region, most transactions are still conducted with cash.

Safarna has partnered with Careem, an on-demand car service, to collect payment. About 40 per cent of its customers use this option, with the rest opting for online payments.

Safarna will also focus on mobile commerce, launching an app in the new year to tap the region’s $3bn mobile-commerce market.

“It’s a habit. You need to build the trust. The first payment is usually with cash and the second is with credit card,” said Mr Sleeboom.

The company also offers interest payment plans of zero per cent for six months for those who want to pay for their holiday in instalments rather than in a lump sum.

“We focus on hard-working singles and young families – people who want everything easy and want it now. We have a partnership with flydubai, and together we create packages for a good price for these travellers,” he said.

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