What started with a small website and a few tours showing visitors an authentic side of the UAE has grown into one of the region’s premier travel companies.
Its founder, Essam Al Salah, recalls OceanAir Travels journey.
OceanAir Travels’ story
OceanAir Travels began in 2009, offering tours and immersive cultural experiences in Egypt. Its founder, Essam Al Salah, a former guide with a passion for hospitality and tourism, didn’t feel heard when trying to improve visitor experiences in other companies, so took the leap to improve the industry himself.
In time, he revolutionized the travel experience landscape in the Middle East — nowhere more so than in Dubai. “Travelers don’t just want to see the sights,” Essam realized. “They want to feel this amazing culture often missed by typical tours. I wanted to offer something different.”
With a small website, big dreams to create experiences across the region, and a desire to immerse tourists in its soul, he started noticing the power of word-of-mouth and reviews. A commitment to delivering 100 percent customer satisfaction still drives him and his ever-growing team.
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From dining with local families to the company’s signature desert safaris, OceanAir Travels’ impressive roster of experiences, hundreds of thousands of five-star reviews, and staggering year-over-year growth are a testament to it.
Here, Essam shares OceanAir Travels’ journey from modest beginnings to becoming the premier travel company in the UAE and beyond, the importance of innovation and impeccable customer service, and partnering with GetYourGuide.
What made you take the leap and start OceanAir Travels?
“Working with various tour companies, I realized that there was a need for more personalized and high-quality travel experiences. I had a background in hospitality and tourism and felt passionate about it. Combined with my obsession for perfection, I was driven to create a company that could deliver those exceptional yet authentic moments.
Our first tour was in Egypt, and it gave people a way to experience local life and history. Instead of driving around the sights and stopping at a gas station to use the washroom, we’d partnered with open-minded and welcoming local families. We’d stop by, have lunch, and they’d show us around and let the groups into part of their life. It was selling very well, so I decided to add Dubai as well.”
What potential did you spot in Dubai?
“Dubai is a city of contrasts — luxury and tradition coexist beautifully. Many tours focus on the luxury side of Dubai, all of its fancy things, but that is where people stay, eat, shop, and roam around. That’s not what they want as a ’local’ experience. We aimed to create an experience that focused on personal connections and authentic interactions with the local culture.”
What were the first few years like?
“I was creating experiences with four or five tour guides and adding them to our website. At the time, we had maybe 15 different options, like if you want the full-day tour, just a morning, seven hours, 10 hours, with or without food … we were the first to include sandboarding and dune bashing in the Red Dunes in our desert safaris. A lot of customers booked with us.
Suddenly, we were number one on Tripadvisor and reviews were really making a difference. We didn’t plan it, as there’s always a risk that if you’re number one you lose it someday, but it just spurred us on. I was doing everything, the marketing, social media, bidding on Google, and I realized we needed to hire tech people.”
Is that why you partnered with GetYourGuide?
“At that time, 2012–2013, OTAs were growing but not as well-known as today. It was a few years later, 2015, that we partnered with GetYourGuide to expand our reach and streamline our marketing. In the meantime, we kept improving our product. We listened to customers, and if they didn’t like something or weren’t happy, we stopped it or changed it.
We partnered with companies so there were better washrooms during the desert safaris. We noticed that customers were really interested in the ATVs, but the vehicles weren’t good enough, so we invested in that with our ATV partner.
We kept customizing the trip to make it the best, and after around six months GetYourGuide was surprised by the numbers and we onboarded new experiences. We now have more than 100, including in Oman, Qatar, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
How have the data and insights you get from GetYourGuide helped?
GetYourGuide's marketing capabilities are far beyond what we could achieve on our own and their support with data-driven insights and promotional efforts has been invaluable. One of the key reports is the sellout report, which
indicates the percentage of customers who didn’t book due to unavailability. This helps us understand where we need to adjust availability. Another critical tool shows our conversion rates, and we use that information to optimize and maintain a sustainable conversion rate of around 3–4 percent.”
What about the relationship with GetYourGuide?
“There are select OTAs I work with. GetYourGuide is a great company that hires great people and we regularly adapt our tours or adjust our commission to create more success and visibility. Julia, our country manager at first, always challenges me to do better.
We learned a lot from her and vice versa. Even if we didn’t always agree, there’s a transparency and integrity there that means you can leave a meeting with absolute clarity about how to move on … and my numbers are increasing, so I’m good.
GetYourGuide is a huge percentage of our business.
How important are your excellent reviews to the company?
“Customer service is at the heart of what we do and that involves constant innovation and attention to detail. We listen to feedback and continually refine our offerings.
Reviews provide us with insights and help build trust with potential customers. Encouraging reviews on GetYourGuide has been a key part of our growth strategy; it isn’t an open forum, so it’s clearer that those reviews are from real experiences and paying customers.
A satisfied customer becomes a repeat customer and an advocate for your brand — word of mouth and reviews can make or break you.
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Does that help you evolve the experiences?
“For example, we have a huge volume of desert safaris, but customers don’t like feeling like they’re part of mass tourism, so we expanded our camps to create more exclusive areas. They wanted street food, so we introduced live cooking stations to enhance the customer experience.
We added an option for longer camel rides or pre-booked quad bikes as we saw that was a pain point for some. If a few minutes of stargazing isn’t enough, you can now stay overnight at our desert camp. It’s all about understanding what our customers want, and it’s often just about tweaking what we do to make it work.”
How do you ensure your staff delivers the high standards you have with every tour?
“Maintaining high standards is crucial for us. We invest heavily in training and now have a dedicated training center. We ensure that team leaders and managers are aligned with OceanAir’s quality expectations.
Regular feedback and optimization are key. For example, we have quality inspectors who ensure everything runs smoothly.
And we created a guest relations team that interacts with customers before their tours, enhancing their experience right from the start.”
What is it about OceanAir Travels that you’re most proud of?
I’m incredibly proud of our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Our investment in our people and the constant innovation of what we offer.
We’ve built a brand with exceptional experiences: exclusive desert camps, immersive tours, and even an authentic Middle Eastern restaurant — Al Khayma Heritage Restaurant — that has been awarded Michelin’s Bib Gourmand. As an investor and businessman, I’ve founded other companies, but it’s different with OceanAir. That is pure passion.
Key takeaways
- OceanAir Travels has a continuing growth trajectory. Almost 300 percent year-over-year growth in 2022, 200 percent in 2023, and more positive growth in 2024 so far on GetYourGuide.
- New and unique products that resonate with GetYourGuide’s customers are regularly added. High-quality experiences and a commitment to excellence attract new and repeat customers.
- OceanAir Travels uses data and analytics to optimize and drive growth. The company requests detailed insights from GetYourGuide to better understand its customers.
- Customer satisfaction is OceanAir Travels’ top priority. By seeking feedback and reviews for every tour, they ensure a positive experience for all customers.
- OceanAir Travels’ range of experiences is constantly evolving. They use customer reviews and insights from OTAs to enhance and optimize every product.
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