As UAE celebrates the Eid Al Fitr like other Islamic countries in the middle-east, it has been considered three days of holiday on an occasion of this celebration in addition to Friday and Saturday from 3 to 8 of June. Therefore, UAE residents may enjoy a week-long holiday. This made Some families of UAE plan trips to nearby countries such as Thailand, Turkey, Azerbaijan, etc.
However, the nub of the argument is prohibitively expensive tickets to travel to these countries. According to what Khaleej times has recently published, prices for these tickets are on the rise due to huge demand and the relatively long holiday. To illustrate, tickets to destinations which are popular among UAE families (Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Maldives, and Bangkok) showed an upsurge of up to 80 percent.
In addition to these, flights to Europe, Thailand, Indonesia, and Maldives are the most frequently booked ones and high on demand. Apart from these, about the destinations which are visa-free or visa-on-arrival for UAE residents, bookings are extremely on the rise. These countries are as follows: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.
To be more exact, tickets to these destinations have also increased and flights between 3 to 10th June will cost nearly 3400 DH. It should be noticed that off-season tickets to these destinations will be from 1000 DH to 1200 DH. As can be seen, there is a huge difference between seasonal and off-season tickets. Also, an interesting point here is that the flights which are indirect to Georgia, still tend to be 3000 DH.
Some families have to rethink about their trips
Given to a report published by this website, some families are dissatisfied with these prices offered by travel agents and are rethinking about their trips. “I will have to shell out at least 20000 DH to have a family holiday anywhere outside the UAE this is beyond my reach”, as Ramesh Nair, father of two in Abu Dhabi told Khaleej times. This decision was made due to the fact that he could not find any flight costing less than 1800 DH and this was not cost-effective according to what he earns.
One of the most significant points here was that UAE residents could book flights in advance with a lower price, but the families themselves have said it has not been possible because of the fact that the exact date of beginning the holiday and ending 30 days of Ramadan remains uncertain until the moon-sighting committees approve.
At the end
What this essay intended to say according to Khaleej Times website, was about the week-long holiday that people of UAE will enjoy this year. However, the high prices of flights have prohibited some families to travel to their favorite destinations, despite their short distance with UAE. The flights may have been cheaper if booked in advance.
written by: Maral Aryanpour