Dubai-based online travel platform HolidayMe is expanding its footprint to South-east Asia through its merger with Muslim travel site, Tripfez.
The deal, which involved a share swap and undisclosed terms, will see the Malaysia-based startup merged with HolidayMe.
CEO Geet Bhalla, who started HolidayMe in 2014, said the merger initiated during a discussion between both founders and was then led by Gobi Ventures, also a lead investor in Tripfez, would allow it to enter new Muslim market such as Malaysia and Singapore.
Geet Bhalla to take brand beyond the Middle East to South-east Asia.
“It is time to take our brand beyond the Middle East to tap into the massive Muslim travel market. Ten million people a year travel on Umrah packages and that number is projected to grow to 30 million by 2030. HolidayMe is immensely interested in this promising market and we are working on an initiative that will see us take a lead in the sector.”
HolidayMe, which currently has a staff of 300 including 100 engineers, will deploy its tech to help Tripfez build its Malaysian business and develop holiday packages for the umrah market.
Bhalla said the outbound market from the Middle East was on the rise with travellers who were hungry for experiences and willing to spend on them.
Bhalla, who worked in the fin tech market in the Middle East for more than a decade before starting HolidayMe, saw the opportunity to build a platform for outbound travel in the region. “At that time, there was no real platform that was offering holiday packages and so we built the technology to offer packages at affordable rates.”
Currently 70% of its business comes from package sales and its biggest markets are UAE and Saudi Arabia with sales also coming from Malaysia and Indonesia, two markets which it clearly hopes to expand on.
When asked which were the most popular destinations booked on the site, he said, “You’ll never guess. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan because they are close by and are the closest to a European experience.”
Depending on the season, he said Europe and Asia were the two biggest regions for travel from the Middle East.
“This is a very dynamic region and changing really fast in terms of consumer behaviour and technology and we want to make sure that we remain at the forefront of trends. We are excited to expand our business to South-east Asia which in many ways is similar to the Middle East in terms of its fragmentation and its huge base of Muslim travellers.”
When asked if the Tripfez brand would remain after the merger, he said it was still early to tell with details currently being worked out.
“What is more important is that consider what our customers want and what works best in the local markets.”
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• Featured image credit: Creative-Family/Getty Images
