{"id":13511,"date":"2024-01-30T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/?p=13511"},"modified":"2024-01-30T13:00:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:00:28","slug":"almatar-and-expedia-strategic-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/almatar-and-expedia-strategic-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"almatar and Expedia: A Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Tourism Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almatar Group for Travel and Tourism recently hosted a delegation from Expedia Group at its headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to celebrate a successful partnership and discuss avenues for strategic collaboration. This alliance aims to increase Expedia\u2019s market share in Saudi Arabia and attract more international travelers to the Kingdom, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030\u2019s goals to position tourism as a key economic pillar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Faisal Al Rajhi, CEO of almatar\u00a0 Group, stated:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;These discussions come at a time of unprecedented growth in Saudi Arabia\u2019s travel and tourism sector, driven by digital transformation and increased internet adoption. Through this partnership, we aim to enhance innovation in delivering integrated travel services that meet the needs of both local and international customers.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-13511-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"362\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ContentStudio_video.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ContentStudio_video.mp4\">https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ContentStudio_video.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<h3><b>Remarkable Growth in the Saudi Travel Market<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Al Rajhi highlighted that the Saudi travel market saw significant growth in 2023, with 99% internet penetration and 91% of Saudi travelers using digital platforms for booking flights and hotels. almatar \u2019s app, ranked among the most downloaded in the Kingdom, is a prime example of the success of digital transformation in the local travel sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Expansion Across the Middle East<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On a regional level, Al Rajhi noted that the Middle East\u2019s travel sector grew by 13% in 2023, with forecasts predicting total bookings to surpass $127 billion by 2027. This growth is fueled by substantial investments in infrastructure and increasing demand for travel from regional markets.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Expedia\u2019s Global Presence<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expedia is recognized as a global leader in the travel sector, operating in over 70 countries with nearly 200 websites. The company leverages advanced technology, processing 70 petabytes of data and delivering over 800 billion predictions annually through artificial intelligence. Al Rajhi remarked:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Having a partner of Expedia\u2019s technological caliber strengthens our position as a leader in adopting cutting-edge digital solutions in the travel sector.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Enhancing the Tourism Experience<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expedia offers diverse services catering to various traveler needs, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Expedia.com:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A comprehensive platform for booking flights, hotels, and car rentals.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Hotels.com:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Specializing in hotel reservations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Vrbo:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Focused on vacation home rentals.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Trivago:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A platform for comparing hotel prices.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The partnership between almatar\u00a0 and Expedia represents a strategic move to support Saudi Arabia\u2019s efforts to establish itself as a premier global tourism destination. Through this collaboration, both companies will deliver innovative services that align with customer expectations and contribute to Saudi Vision 2030 by reinforcing tourism as a key economic driver.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>almatar Group for Travel and Tourism recently hosted a delegation from Expedia Group at its headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to celebrate a successful partnership and discuss avenues for strategic collaboration. This alliance aims to increase Expedia\u2019s market share in Saudi Arabia and attract more international travelers to the Kingdom, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"post_views_count":446,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1547,1549],"tags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-13511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-latest-news"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":13511},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13511"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almatar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=13511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}