A report released by Orient Planet Research reveals that the GCC region had 1.4bn international tourist arrivals in 2018, up 6 per cent on 2017. The report cites the region as increasing its position as a world-class global tourism hub.
The UAE had more than 10m visitors annual with Abu Dhabi and Dubai the main focus, but Sharjah is named as increasing in appeal with 1.7m visitors.
At the same time, however, the report notes that many more residents of the GCC are now choosing to go outside of the region for other popular destinations – a positive influence for Arab airlines and their connections.
Orient Planet Group managing director Nidal Abou Zaki said: “The regional tourism sector is witnessing rapid development to meet the growing demand of international travellers. Tourism entities have been developing a wide range of options that cater to various types of visitors. Some of these activities include health tourism, cultural events, entertainment, heritage, eco-tourism and music festivals which reflect the richness of the Arabian Gulf’s natural, hisotiral and cultural heritage.”
The report notes that Oman’s Ministry of Tourism had embarked upon a ‘Tourism Strategy 2040’, designed to bring 11.7m travellers by that deadline with around half of them business travellers or leisure tourists. Saudi Arabia, it said, is notable for a huge number of tourism projects worth US$11.6bn with a number of tourist-related initiatives. These include the plans for its Saudi Vision 2030 which will see $64bn going into cultural, leisure and entertainment projects.
Bahrain is part-way through the construction of its international exhibition centre in Sakhir, due to be opened in 2021 and Kuwait has a number of tourism initiatives including the ‘five islands’. This would have an investment value of as much as $160bn.
