Seera Group, the region’s leading travel services company, have formed a Strategic Partnership with Klook, a world-leading travel and leisure booking platform, that will support the digital transformation and robust growth of Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector. The partnership was announced at the Arabian Travel Market 2021 in Dubai.
Seera will be the exclusive partner of Klook in Saudi Arabia, and together, the two entities will create a one-stop digital platform with end-to-end content and inventory management solutions that will support tourism and leisure activity providers in Saudi Arabia and provide an unprecedented choice of product offering for travellers to, from, and within the Kingdom.
With the new partnership, activity providers in the Kingdom will be able to connect with global marketplaces and tour distributors, enabling them to build their business, which will not only support the local tourism landscape, but also elevate Saudi Arabia’s footprint on the global tourism map. The platform will also showcase tours and activities operated by Discover Saudi, Seera’s integrated destination management company.
Majed Alnefaie, Acting CEO of Seera Group, said: "Our partnership with Klook builds on the strong leadership commitment to deliver the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to build the Kingdom’s tourism sector, diversify the economy and create long-term economic value. With the partnership, we will bring the world-class technological expertise of Klook, and Seera’s knowledge of Saudi Arabia’s tourism and travel sector together in one platform.
"This will address current gaps in the tourism supply chain, particularly in terms of online content for tours & activities, the limited technological strengths of suppliers and low awareness of local and global travellers on the Kingdom’s offering. The partnership will further digitally transform the Saudi tourism landscape and position it to enable domestic travellers and visitors from around the world as the travel and tourism sector rebounds," he added.
Ethan Lin, CEO & Co-Founder of Klook, said: "Klook is delighted to partner Seera Group and we are positive that this partnership will help set the stage towards Saudi Vision 2030. While the pandemic has had devastating effects on many businesses, this partnership will help ensure that the Saudi tourism sector can be in the best position to capture growth when travel resumes."
Seera will add value to the partnership by leveraging its extensive knowledge of the Saudi market, as well as localized content creation, including Arabic-first content, and will offer valuable guidance to promote the Kingdom among travellers from around the world. Further, Almosafer, Seera’s flagship consumer travel brand that offers online travel planning, will build a digitally enabled activities and tour marketplace to serve its extensive Saudi customer base with a seamless booking solution across its omni-channel offering.
On its part, Klook will draw on its technological strengths to empower and digitise tourism operators in Saudi Arabia. With the acceleration of Klook’s new merchant Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, the company is reimagining the next digital leap for the experiences sector and accelerating how it supports operators through innovation. Tour activity providers in the Kingdom, both large-sized and small, will have the necessary digital tools and knowledge to easily build, manage, and scale their business.
"Additionally, we’re excited to provide the Saudi travellers with access to Klook’s global network of travel and leisure offerings, connecting them to the best experiences across the world. With over 100,000 offerings in more than 400 destinations, Saudi travellers can soon access a world of hyper-local and authentic experiences right at their fingertips," added Lin.
As part of the Kingdom’s plans to increase inbound tourism in line with Vision 2030, the partnership will also tap into Klook’s extensive audience in the Asia Pacific region. Additionally, with Klook’s leading presence in Malaysia and Indonesia – the fastest growing muslim travel markets, the company will be able to meet the demands of travellers for Hajj and Umrah as they explore the Kingdom beyond their pilgrimage.
