Great last-minute travel deals and affordable travel are being brought to the Middle East with the official launch of a new online travel agency (OTA). lastminute.ae will facilitate seamless booking for destinations worldwide right from the confines of your home, said a statement.
The new OTA brand is born from a strategic relationship with lastminute.com, the European travel tech leader in dynamic holiday packages. It follows the unprecedented, rapid development in tourism in the region and the need for an OTA that can provide travelers with varied budgets the best possible range and price for flights, it said.
The site leverages lastminute.com’s technological expertise, extensive resources and vast experience in the online flight sector with the local knowledge of lastminute.ae via its established customer base. The localization means they can offer an unparalleled service tapping into the wants and needs of travelers in the Middle East, which will bring huge benefits to the burgeoning market.
General Manager of lastminute.ae, Yiannis Papadonikolakis, said: “We are excited to be launching in the Middle East, the next key growth area in world travel. Our customer-first approach means our focus is on making booking flights as easy and cost-effective as possible for everyone who visits our website. It’s been made-to-measure to regional requirements on where, when and how travelers want to fly.
“Our local knowledge, contacts and content, coupled with 25 years plus experience of lastminute.com in building new markets, means we are perfectly positioned to harness the big boom in Middle Eastern travel,” he said.
2025 sees lift-off for regional travelling
The online flight ticketing market in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by increased internet penetration, digital adoption, and a preference for convenient online bookings.
The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) forecasts said that passenger traffic at UAE airports would reach approximately 150 million by the end of 2024, up from 134 million in 2023. This has sparked the approval of the construction of a new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, with an investment of AED 128 billion ($35 billion) which will make it the world’s largest airport, with a capacity of up to 260 million passengers.
In Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah served 49.1 million passengers in 2024, around 15 per cent more than the previous year. Kuwait City airport has also seen rise in passenger numbers in recent years, with Kuwait’s triangular terminal, set to open in 2025, increasing capacity to 50 million passengers.
