LAHORE: With a population of more than 241 million, 6.2 million annual outbound travellers and nearly two million Umrah pilgrims last year, Pakistan is fast emerging as a new frontier for digital travel platforms. “Pakistan is ready for us,” said Ross Veitch, chief executive officer and co-founder of travel booking site Wego, during an exclusive discussion in Lahore.
Founded in 2005, when online travel was still relatively new across much of Asia and the Middle East, Wego has since become the most popular travel app in the Gulf. Veitch, who previously built internet products at Yahoo during the first dot-com boom, said he wanted to combine technology with a lifelong interest in travel. “At that time, online travel across Asia and the Middle East was still very young. Today, we are the most popular travel app in the GCC. From there, we have expanded into the wider Middle East and other corridors where Gulf travellers fly,” he explained. The company now operates from two headquarters: Singapore, which leads the technology side, and Dubai, which anchors business operations.
Wego is now formally bringing its travel services to Pakistani consumers. “We’re here to help Pakistanis shop and book their travel online. With the Wego app or website, you can compare all carriers. We have partnerships with every airline flying into or out of Pakistan, as well as domestic players. We have localised the app, added local payment options and customer service in Urdu. It is everything we have learnt from other markets, now tailored for Pakistan,” Veitch said. “We have seen triple-digit growth percentages off a medium base, not a tiny one. We are quite bullish about this market.”
The optimism is supported by numbers. According to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, more than 6.2 million Pakistanis travelled abroad in 2023, while a further 5.5 million flew domestically. Outbound traffic is dominated by the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia alone accounts for millions of annual trips, many tied to religious pilgrimages. Nearly two million Pakistanis performed Umrah in 2023, making the country one of the largest contributors of pilgrims. “We already see a lot of people booking their Umrah with Wego,” Veitch noted. “Saudi Arabia is our number one market globally, so it’s a natural fit. We think there is a lot of potential if we can make Umrah bookings easier — flights, hotels, visas and logistics packaged seamlessly.”
Still, Pakistan’s travel market is constrained by affordability and frequency. “In Southeast Asia years ago, people travelled once a year. In the Gulf, it is five or six times. That frequency makes travel companies more viable. In Pakistan, it is often once a year for migrant workers or family visits,” Veitch said. More than five million Pakistanis are employed in the Gulf, many of whom receive a company-paid ticket home once a year. White-collar expatriates may travel more often, but they are a minority. “It i’s not just about affordability. Sometimes people can afford it but can’t leave their jobs. Other times, the real barrier is visas,” he added.
Visa restrictions remain a major obstacle. Pakistani passport holders face some of the toughest entry requirements worldwide. The Henley Passport Index ranks Pakistan near the bottom, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to only 28 countries, most of them minor markets. “Too many destinations make it too hard for Pakistanis to travel. That’s a real friction point for us. We do not set those policies, but we lobby tourism boards to ease them. The smart destinations benefit massively when they open up,” Veitch said. Recalling his time at Tourism Australia, he noted how a change in visa policy for Chinese travellers led to decades of growth. “The same could apply here. The travel history, the jobs, the families in Pakistan — these are not overstay risks. Yet visas remain a headache.”
Despite challenges, Veitch is confident about Pakistan’s long-term potential. The country has one of the highest rates of mobile penetration in the region, with more than 190 million mobile connections and 125 million broadband users. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that the sector contributed about $15 billion to GDP in 2023, or around 5.7 per cent of the total, with steady growth forecast despite economic difficulties. “Today it is a thin slice of the population travelling. But as the economy expands, more people will join the middle class. The appetite for Umrah, family visits, business travel and eventually leisure tourism is strong. We are here to serve that demand as it grows,” Veitch said.
Pakistan first entered Wego’s orbit not as a consumer market but as a source of engineering talent. For years, the company relied heavily on Pakistani software developers in Singapore, particularly those building its mobile platforms. Many eventually wanted to return home. “We had brilliant Pakistani developers in Singapore, but when their children reached school age, their families wanted to come back. We did not want to lose them. So instead of letting them go, we sent them back to set up Wego Pakistan,” Veitch recalled.
Two senior engineers, Bilal and Ubaid, were tasked with establishing the Lahore office and went on to recruit other professionals from their networks. That move has since grown into a full-fledged development hub employing more than 30 engineers, with plans to expand to 40 or 50 in the coming year. Lahore is now described by Veitch as the “heartbeat of Wego’s global mobile development”, directly integrated into the company’s global technology team.
Wego’s Pakistan app integrates with local payment methods including PayFast, Easypaisa, JazzCash, Raast and direct bank transfers, enabling travellers to pay in rupees without incurring cross-border card fees. “Instead of paying expensive charges for international cards, you pay locally and almost free. That’s a game changer,” Veitch emphasised.
For now, Wego’s story in Pakistan is one of measured investment. From an office of 30 developers in Lahore to a newly launched consumer-facing business, the company is laying the foundations for growth. With a vast population, a rising middle class and consistent demand for religious and expatriate travel, Pakistan could become one of Wego’s most important markets. “We are bullish on Pakistan,” Veitch concluded. “This country has the talent, the demand and the ambition. We’re here to make travel easier, cheaper and smarter for every Pakistani who wants to explore the world.”
