Abu Dhabi agency reports doubling of hotel packages sales

Abu Dhabi's Safar Travel & Tourism reports a surge in bookings for tropical holidays this year.

A surge in bookings for tropical holiday destinations has fuelled a 100 per cent rise in hotel sales at one of Abu Dhabi's largest travel agencies.

Safar Travel & Tourism, owned by the Al Fahim Group, sold double the number of hotel packages in the first two months of the year compared to the same period a year ago. The most popular destinations include the Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius.

"A lot of people tend to like areas like the Maldives and the Seychelles because of the closeness and tie-ups with the major airlines," said Mohammed Al Fahim, the general manager of products and services. "I think people want more of a relaxed destination rather than a city destination."

The company recorded a 32 per cent rise in visitors to tropical destinations last year and a 15 per cent increase in tourists to South Africa.

In addition, it booked more flights to Sri Lanka, Spain and Vietnam than in 2011.

"2012 has been a fruitful year with the surge in airline ticket purchases as well as hotel stays inside and outside of the UAE," said Mr Al Fahim.

"We are especially happy with our growth in market share with the national carrier, Etihad Airways, which was 13 per cent in 2012 compared to 2011."

The company has signed a partnership with Oceania Cruises, which sails to more than 330 ports around the globe in a move that Mr Al Fahim believes will lead to a further boost in business.

"It means an additional way of holidaymaking. We can give an option, rather than travelling by plane you can also have a cruise liner which is on the level of a five-star hotel."

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Union National Bank to offer credit card holders a special interest rate of less than 1 per cent each month on purchases from Safar Travel & Tourism.

Mr Al Fahim said Safar had introduced the deal because many people pay for their holidays with credit cards. "It gives comfort to people that they are directly paying a better rate to the bank," he said.

"The market is looking promising this year and with our strategic alliance with Union National Bank, we are expecting more frequent travelling during the year by families with the dramatically decreased interest rate travel loan for UNB credit card holders exclusively to Safar Travel & Tourism."