DAMMAM, 4 September 2003 — Travel agencies in the Eastern Province are seeing a consistent decline in business, and as a result, 14 travel agencies from the region have sent a petition to the Presidency of Civil Aviation asking it to bail them out.
The petition says that in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the travel industry worldwide faced a decline.
“The travel industry in Saudi Arabia was also not spared, and most of the travel agencies operating in the Eastern Province suffered huge losses,” the petition said. “The situation has become so bad that some travel agencies face closure.”
Travel agents urged the PCA to advise ministries and government departments to buy tickets through the travel agencies rather than direct from the provider.
“This step would help the travel agencies immensely and provide an impetus to the business,” said Khalid Al-Shammary, manager of Al-Bassam Travel and one of the signatories to the petition.
Government departments and ministries buy air tickets for their staff directly from the national carrier Saudia.
“There is big business out there and we are completely deprived of that business because those departments deal directly with Saudia,” said a travel agent in Alkhobar on condition of anonymity.
Travel agencies say that in the past two years business has declined by more than 45 percent. “There are fewer travelers to Europe and Americas from here now due to the backlash after the Sept. 11 incident,” said a travel agent in Dammam. “The outbreak of SARS in the Far East as well as in Southeast Asia aggravated our problems and the business took another big plunge,” he said.
The PCA has not yet responded to the petition and, according to travel industry sources, the matter is still under consideration.
