Summer 2023: Saudi Arabia leads MENA region in international tourism

Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East are expected to see a 36 percent spike in international tourism between June and August compared to last year, a report by travel data firms ForwardKeys revealed.

“The MENA region’s tourism industry is set to continue its strong recovery during the summer months thanks to a combination of a substantial increase in travel intent,” Vice President of Insights at ForwardKeys Olivier Ponti said.

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“Flight searches for international trips to MENA made in the first three months of the year [are] up by 39 percent on the same period last year and the enhanced flight connectivity, with available seats for travelling to MENA destinations internationally up by 19 percent on 2019 levels (plus 5 percent versus 2019),” he added.

Saudi Arabia is expected to lead this demand with a 475 percent increase in travelers compared to 2022 and a 56 percent surge from pre-pandemic levels, the report said.

The upcoming influx of travelers this summer will largely be the result of the government’s decision to lift the cap on the number of pilgrims who can perform Hajj this year – the first time since COVID-19.

The Kingdom has been investing heavily in tourism in a bid to attract regional and international markets; the report suggests that the investments are working.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) Fahd Hamidaddin told the Arabian Travel Market last month that tourism would be “the new oil” for the Kingdom.

“The world in the 1920s came to Saudi for oil, now the world will come in the 2020s for tourism. Tourism is the new oil,” he said at the time.

Meanwhile, neighboring UAE, which enjoys most of the MENA region’s tourism influx, will see a 43 percent increase compared to 2022 and an eight percent drop compared to pre-pandemic times, according to the same report.

Earlier this month, Saif Mohammed al-Suwaidi, Director-General of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), announced that the number of passengers travelling through UAE’s airports during the first quarter of 2023 increased by 56.3 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

The number of passengers through the UAE’s airports reached approximately 31,862,635, an increase of more than 11.48 million passengers from the same period in 2022, where about 20,381,324 passengers were recorded, according to al-Suwaidi.

Flying out of the Middle East

According to the report, travelers flying out of the MENA region are expected to flock to destinations in the east during the summer months.

“Now that travel restrictions have eased and air connectivity is returning closer to pre-pandemic levels in the APAC (Asia Pacific) region, we are seeing a surge of travelers from the MENA flocking East this summer, in search of adventure, relaxation and a much-needed escape from the challenges of recent years,” Ponti said.

Another destination that is set to attract a large number of MENA travelers this summer is Austria, a refuge for people looking to escape the Middle East’s scorching temperatures.

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