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The travel and tourism sector continues to grow faster than the global economy as it is expected to record a slow growth of 2.7 percent, showing the importance consumers place on travel despite the global high cost of living crisis.
The World Travel Market expects the global market value of the travel and tourism sector to exceed $1 trillion over the next four years and that the sector will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.42 percent over the next four years exceed the trillion dollar mark in years.
Allied Market Research estimated the global business travel market at $689.7 billion in 2021 and expects this sector to grow to $2.1 trillion by 2031. At the same time, the global luxury travel market is on track to surpass $440 billion by the end of this decade. , according to the research results.
With expectations of significant growth in the travel and tourism sector this year, the Voice of the Travel Industry survey conducted by Euromonitor, which monitors the opinions of travel sector executives, found inflation (56 percent) and travel disruption (53 percent). … Consumer desire for value for money (46 percent) is the biggest trend impacting the industry. 59 percent expect the industry’s financial performance to improve slightly in 2023-2024 as high costs are passed on to consumers.
Travel has become so digital that by 2024, 67 percent of consumers worldwide are expected to book their reservations online, according to Euromonitor.
As for the Middle East region, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it was the first region in the world in 2023 as the number of international tourist arrivals exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Overall, the number of international arrivals to Middle East destinations was 15 percent higher in the first quarter of 2023 than in the same period in 2019.
Inflation and decline in travel
Kuwaiti economic analyst Muhammad Ramadan said tourism growth in the Middle East region in 2023 will exceed 2019 growth.
He added that the rest of the world has not yet reached the level that the region has reached in terms of tourism and he expects the number of tourists this year to exceed the number recorded in 2019, supported by the large number of Chinese tourists coming to the region. He pointed out that tourism may change in 2024 due to many trends, including changes in the field of tourism and its types such as sports tourism, fishing tourism, space tourism and others.
Ramadan expected to see stronger tourism activity in 2024, supported by lower travel costs due to relatively low inflation, which rose in 2022 and 2023. He pointed out that 2024 could be the year of reducing inflation, which will revive the tourism sector in the world.
He added that there is also great tourism competition in the region as there are promising tourist destinations in Saudi Arabia and Dubai and Abu Dhabi are two leading tourist destinations along with the well-known tourist destinations in Egypt and Jordan.
He said: “The Gulf States have achieved significant growth in the tourism sector, placing them in a highly advanced position compared to Jordan and Egypt,” pointing to the importance of the tourism sector as a source of economic growth.
Ramadan is convinced that the conflict between Israel and Hamas has not greatly affected tourism in the region, and with regard to the Gulf states, he says that they are far removed from the conflict in terms of security, and this also applies to Egypt and Jordan He pointed out that other countries such as Lebanon, Syria and Israel could be very badly affected by tourism.
Golf tourism was not affected
Tourism and travel specialist Muhammad Jassim Al-Rayes expected that total tourism and travel reservations in the first quarter of 2024 would significantly exceed those recorded in the same period last year. Al-Rayes told Independent Arabia that there has been a noticeable increase in travel seating worldwide and he expects seating capacity on airlines worldwide this year to exceed the capacity recorded in 2019.
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When asked about the destinations that will attract more tourists from around the world this year and whether tourists will avoid the Middle East region due to the events, Al-Rayes expected that the trend of tourists worldwide will go more to Asia and Europe is compared to America and Africa. Regarding the Middle East region, Al-Rayes pointed out the large influx of tourists to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf states, stressing that tourism in the Gulf is not affected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas had been impaired.
He added that at the beginning of the conflict there were requests and we responded that we should look at the war between Russia and Ukraine. When tourists go to Moscow, they see that life continues as normal. Regarding the geographical impact and current events, Al-Rayes explained that Jordan and Egypt as tourist destinations may be somewhat affected due to their geographical proximity to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, pointing out that in the event of a breakthrough in the current crisis Tourism in Jordan and Egypt will return to normal.
He said: “A year ago I wrote on Twitter (X) that the distance between London and Paris is 500 kilometers and between Dubai and Riyadh is about 1,000 kilometers. If we look at the world map, we find that Paris is ranked second in terms of the number of tourists in the world, and London is third in the world in terms of the number of tourists, factories, etc. What I want to say is that the two cities have benefited from each other in terms of tourism and that one country has not pulled the tourist rug away from another country. The same applies to the Gulf region, there for the integration of Gulf tourism and then increasing tourism in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia contributes to increasing tourism in the rest of the Gulf states.”
Al-Rayes spoke about the increase in travel expenses thanks to financing solutions, as there are companies that bear the travel expenses on behalf of the traveler, and the traveler can pay the travel expenses to the company in installments over a period of a few months. This means that people on low incomes can now travel more than once a year. Al-Rayes believes that travel financing solutions have helped increase travel and tourism spending worldwide.
At the spending level, global tourism spending is expected to reach $2 trillion, according to Euromonitor International.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, travelers to the Gulf spend about 6.5 times what tourists from other parts of the world spend.
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