For expressions of love, the best route to the heart of Middle Eastern residents is through flowers and gifts. Maktoob Research’s second annual ‘Valentine’s’ survey has revealed what’s on the minds and in the hearts of men and women across the Arab region on Valentine’s Day.
The survey was conducted from the 31st of January to the 5th of February, among Arabs of different nationalities who are either married or involved in a serious relationship. 3195 respondents aged 18 to 35 were surveyed from across eleven countries in the GCC, Levant and North Africa region.
While gifts (13%) ranked ahead of romantic phone calls (11%), a dinner date (10%) and Valentine’s cards (9%) on respondent’s wish lists, amazingly flowers (15%) ranked as the most exciting and romantic gift this Valentine’s.
Another surprising finding is that this year, an overwhelming majority of 72% respondents consider themselves to be romantic people as opposed to 62% of last year’s respondents.
Other surprising findings uncovered through the survey are:
o 58% respondents claim to have never celebrated Valentine’s Day before; 57% of people surveyed, however, say that they will most definitely do something very special for their loved one.
o 43% respondents who would not be doing something special for their loved ones quoted reasons ranging from it being against their religion/culture, to the fact that love needed to be expressed throughout the year not assigned to one day only, to financial reasons, to non-belief in the occasion.
o 24% of respondents who have celebrated Valentine’s Day before say that they make it a point to keep the sentiment of romance alive in their relationships and celebrate the occasion every year. Most North African respondents (46%) have celebrated the occasion before while the day has been celebrated in the GCC and Levant less frequently (40% each).
o ‘Going away to a hotel or on a trip’, ‘a dinner date’ and ‘jewellery’ featured more prominently in GCC wish lists as compared to other regions; these also ranked higher in GCC lists of presents to be given to loved ones.
o Gifts (18%) topped the list of presents to be given to loved ones, followed by flowers (15%), romantic phone calls (10.1%), Valentine’s cards (9.9%) and a dinner date (9%).
o 102 respondents (2%) wished to have their sweethearts recite poems to them, however only 8 respondents (0.1%) listed that they were willing to do this for their loved ones.
o Recitation of poetry ranked higher in Levant wish lists; while more people in the Levant also said they would present their loved ones with flowers.
o 27.7% respondents were willing to spend $50 and below on gifts for their loved ones; 16.1% were willing to spend $51 - $100; 6.4% were willing to spend $101 - $150 while 10.7% respondents were willing to spend more than $151 on their sweethearts. Respondents in the GCC were willing to spend the most, followed by the Levant and then North Africa. Men were willing to spend more on gifts for their ladies.
o Mystery is sure to be a big part of this Valentine’s Day as 76% respondents are sure that their partners do not know what they are hoping to receive. Similarly, 82% respondents are planning surprises for their partners without having asked them what they want.
o 42% respondents believe that Valentine’s Day is not meant only for romantic people; the same number disagreed when asked whether the occasion is meant only for the Western world; 47% believe that the day should be an occasion for the religious and non-religious alike; however, 46% believed that celebrating the day went against their religious beliefs.
o 48% respondents believe that Valentine’s Day has become too commercial as opposed to 37% respondents who claimed the same last year.
"The results of this year’s survey clearly indicate that majority of residents in the Arab region are incredibly romantic and still love receiving traditional gifts such as flowers, simple gifts and phone calls,” said Maktoob Research Director Tamara Deprez. “On the other hand, we’ve also received feedback from a large number of respondents who say that they will not be celebrating the occasion as they believe that it goes against their religious beliefs.”
“We hope that our survey serves to enlighten couples and assist them in choosing the perfect gifts for their loved ones.”
About Maktoob Research:
Maktoob Research, member of ESOMAR, offers an online panel covering 2 million Arab consumers (and growing) in the Middle East and North Africa. Maktoob Research guarantees delivery of high-quality, super-fast quantitative research projects at highly competitive rates.
Maktoob Research can target its panel members by demographics, such as age, gender and occupation among others, which makes it possible to target specific areas, a survey targeted at students for example. Key behavioural patterns are available too.
Maktoob Research not only provides full project support to its clients via survey programming, translations and hosting, but also a complete research package, including consultancy. Research Portal can be made available - an online tool for real-time analysis. During an on-going research, research data will be available 24/7.
