A 2014 study conducted by MasterCard showed that consumers in Lebanon are gradually exploring online shopping options.
The survey, which was based on 3,000 respondents from six markets across the Middle East, revealed that over 20 percent of shoppers in Lebanon had made at least one online purchase during three months prior to the study. The most amount of money was spent on airline tickets, followed by clothing and hotel bookings.
While the client base for online travel agencies remains relatively small in Lebanon, Expedia and Booking.com have succeeded over the past few years in attracting a growing number of customers.
Local travel agency Kurban Travel is eyeing a share of this market, its director Selim Boutros told The Daily Star a few days after the company launched its own online platform gokurban.com.
Just like Expedia, GoKurban.com offers a comprehensive range of travel services including flight bookings, hotel reservations, vacation packages and car rental services.
While only 15 percent of Lebanese travelers choose to book their vacations online, GoKurban.com is hoping to lure this percentage into shopping for trips through its own platform rather than using Expedia or similar online agencies, Boutros says.
According to the MasterCard survey, Boutros will be facing a challenging task. The survey indicates that almost 68 percent of online shoppers in Lebanon still purchase products from foreign websites.
When The Daily Star asked Boutros why Lebanese clients would choose Kurban Travel over globally well-established online travel agencies, he had a simple answer:
“We didn’t reinvent the wheel. Nevertheless, we are offering our customers an added value service that most online travel agencies lack.”
In addition to providing its clients with the same range of services at the same competitive prices offered by global online travel agents, Boutros explains that Kurban Travel still maintains the tailored customer service offered by traditional travel agents.
Clients can still benefit from traditional customer support related to their online bookings for no extra charge.
“We are offering our clients a hybrid model. A model that give them total control by allowing them to fully book their trip online while still being able to request traditional customer support relating to their online booking,” Boutros says.
A quick comparison by The Daily Star of prices offered on Expedia and GoKurban.com for a number of randomly selected flights showed closely matching prices, differing by around $20.
Kurban Travel launched Wednesday a large-scale TV, radio, outdoor and online advertising campaign to introduce the website to the Lebanese public, Boutros said. The online platform, which was developed over the course of two years, attracted 600 visitors on its launch day, Boutros says.
He expects the number to grow significantly over the next few weeks, highlighting that Kurban Travel has established two dedicated teams to handle operations relating to the online platform.
Boutros says Kurban Travel will gradually expand the range of its online offering to include several new services such as cruise bookings.
Source: http://www.zawya.com/story/Lebanese_travel_agency_to_compete_online-DS28052015_dsart*299497/
