Holiday rush sends ticket prices soaring in Kuwait

Prices of air tickets have soared in Kuwait in recent days amid a high demand by citizen and expatriate travellers to spend a longish holiday abroad, travel agents said.

Travel operators expect the prices, which have increased by 120 percent to some destinations, to keep rising in the coming days until mid-March before returning to pre-holiday fares, Al Jarida newspaper said.

Read- 8.5% increase in expatriate money transfers in first 9 months of 2021

The Kuwaiti government has given public sector employees a holiday running from February 27 till March 3 to mark Independence Day, the Liberation Day and Al Israa Wal Miraj (Prophet Mohammed’s night journey, PBUH). The employees will return to the workplace on March 6.

The Education Ministry has also postponed the start of the second semester in the country to March 6.

The semester was originally scheduled to kick off on February 13. But the Education Ministry said that the second semester will now begin on March 6 after the public holiday in the country. Travel operators said that the price increases for flights is a matter of supply and demand. “Bookings for travel have remarkably increased coinciding with a constant decline in coronavirus cases and reassurances from state officials that the Kuwait airport will not close again,” they argued.