JEDDAH, 21 July 2004 — Although Saudi vacationers are traveling less to the West, especially the United States, their total spending continues to rise.
“It’s difficult to quantify how much Saudis spend during a vacation season, but the combined spending of Arabs in the Middle East runs into billions of dollars,” a credit card company executive said here yesterday.
Airlines and leading travel agencies and shopping malls have been experiencing an increased use of credit and debit cards from leading card companies, banks and financial institutions.
Travelers coming to the Middle East spent over $1 billion on their cards at retail locations during the six months ended April 30. This amount, reported by just one credit card company, represents a 43 percent increase in revenue for retailers over the previous corresponding period, a spokesman for VisaCard said.
What has encouraged the liberal use of credit and debit cards is the facility of online booking and shopping that is available these days. Confirmation by regional airlines such as Air Arabia and Emirates of a big jump in their online booking and ticketing supports the card companies’ claim that credit and debit cards are now being increasingly used.
Visa International claims that the total number of Visa sales transactions exceeded 63 million. The highest spending was recorded in December 2003 when expenditure reached $185 million.
“As the region increasingly moves toward automation in several fields, more outlets are realizing the incremental benefits of accepting credit cards,” said Kamran Siddiqi, general manager, Visa International, Middle East. In the past four years, Visa has witnessed a double-digit growth in acceptance locations in the region to total more than 100,000 retailers.
“The rising traffic of incoming business and leisure travelers has necessitated that the hospitality and retail community offer electronic payment facilities for safe and easy transactions,” Marwan Khoury, managing director of the Jordan Tourism Board, was quoted as saying. “As plastic becomes an increasingly popular mode of payment, retailers can further add value through cardholder loyalty schemes and promotional offers.”
Tourism boards in the Middle East have acknowledged that the use of payment cards by international travelers is a major contributor to the revenue growth of local retailers. They also acknowledge the direct correlation between increased card use by international travelers visiting the Middle East and positive growth in the local economy.
MasterCard International also confirms that its online debit activity, which includes its online debit program, continues to show year-on-year growth for the three-month period ended March 31. “The continued progress we’ve seen over the past quarter are clear signs of encouragement for us,” said Ann Camarillo, MasterCard’s chief debit officer. “We’ve experienced an exceptional card growth in the Middle East, aside from Africa and South Asia,” Ann said.
Saudi travelers say that they find buying airline tickets online both convenient and easier. “If you have a credit or debit card, you can do wonders — whether booking an airline ticket online or even during shopping,” said Fahad Alghourab, who runs his own transport business. “I just used my card to buy tickets for my family online,” he said.
Most of the airlines have reported that their online booking and ticketing services have marked a “big” increase. “This year, our online hits have increased by leaps and bounds and they are mostly from passengers who want to book and purchase their tickets online,” said Muhammad S. Alfalasi, regional manager of Emirates.
