In the race to capture the interest and share of market of Russian travellers, the Saudi Tourism Authority partnered with Yandex Travel to put Saudi on the map as a leisure destination. Yandex Travel is a Russian based OTA & aggregator that has been aggressively growing since the exit of western competitors, such as Booking.com, Skyscanner and TripAdvisor.
Yandex Travel is part of the global Yandex brand, based out of Russia, and currently valued at nearly $8B. The company’s expanding presence of digital-first businesses spans 30+ countries.
Joint efforts between the Yandex Travel in-house creative and production studio along with STA teams, led by Alaa Alosaimi (PR & Media Manager) and Ziyad Binjadid (Consumer Marketing Executive Director), resulted in an interactive map hosted on Yandex Travel and demonstrating leisure destination appeal of Saudi Arabia.
Together, they developed a highly effective travel campaign. Knowing that Saudi Arabia is the home to Mecca and Medina, they endeavored to reveal that it is more than a destination for holy pilgrims.
The project was specifically tailored to attract and encourage Russian visitors to experience this astounding region with natural wonders, undiscovered beauty, rich cultural and historical landmarks, and modern cities that offer some of the world’s finest, most luxurious shopping.
Users who land on the page could navigate the map by exploring Saudi Arabia from different angles such as Things to Do and See, Nature, Food, Shopping, History, Culture and Heritage. As they look through various themes, they are presented with the opportunity to create their own unique dream trips through the Kingdom which they can save and share with their friends and followers on the social media platforms, VK and Telegram.
Visitors to the interactive campaign were captivated by experiencing something unique and different from what they find on average travel sites. They were invited to visit bustling cities and to bask in the desert’s enchanting expanse.
They could journey to the star-filled tranquility of the nighttime desert sky and become a traveler and not just a tourist in the splendor of the cities of Riyadh, a place of “gardens and trees,” the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, a place of ancient trade routes, and the holy city of Mecca.
Home to one of the world’s largest, mesmerising deserts, this boundless sandy landscape captivated them with its shimmering mirages, peace and tranquility, and magnificent dunes that only an untouched wilderness can provide.
Additionally, the launch of Saudi Arabia interactive map was supported by maximising exposure on the Yandex Travel portal through media placements on the Main Page and in the Search results.
They completely took over the portal across all available media placements exclusively for promoting the Saudi Arabia Yandex Travel activation, generating huge interest from Russian tourists looking for their next adventure.
But don’t just take our word for it. We welcome you to review our post-campaign analytics for Visit Saudi and evaluate for yourself these impressive results:
The graph below shows the total impressions reached 25.3 million views, and there was a noteworthy 19.1 K in post-view requests for more information.
The campaign also achieved 54.7 K clicks, coverage of 5.1 million, and a 51.85% lift on search. People were highly attracted to this descriptive and captivating campaign, and Saudi Arabia welcomed the interest and increase in visitors with open arms.
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