Gulf Arabs Spend $12b On Overseas Vacations
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www.gulf-news.com The lure of high-spending Arab travellers is prompting an influx of national tourism organisations into the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), which contributes more than $12 billion (Dh44 billion) to annual international vacation spending.
No less than six new national tourism boards from Europe, Asia and Africa have launched direct Middle East operations in Dubai this year, following the footsteps of the long-established VisitBritain, the national tourism board of Britain, and India Government Tourist Office.
"According to the World Tourism Organisation, Arab tourists from the Gulf states alone spend more than $12 billion on overseas vacations that's a very enticing market," said Chris Chackal, Group Exhibition Director of Overseas Events for Reed Travel Exhibitions, the organiser of Arabian Travel Market, the region's premier travel and tourism trade event.
"Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest outbound markets with tourists from the kingdom spending $6.7 billion annually on overseas travel that's about 5 per cent of the country's GDP.
"And UAE travellers alone spend more than $4.9 billion, an average of $1,700 per trip, which is $500 higher than the European average.
"At this year's Arabian Travel Market we had 43 national and tourism boards exhibiting, an indication of the Middle East's massive outbound travel potential."
Germany, Turkey, Cyprus, Singapore, Malaysia and Morocco have all set up shop in Dubai and others may follow soon.
The German Tourist Board, (GTB) which launched its direct UAE presence early this year, says that 2005 overnight stays from the GCC to Germany up to May saw an increase of more than 15 per cent.
"Saudi Arabia, being the core market, accounted for 50 per cent of those and the UAE and Kuwait contributed 15 per cent each," said Heike Murad, GTB manager for the GCC.
"The GCC is a strategic growth market for German tourism and we expect a further increase for 2005, to follow on a trend which has continued for the last five years," she said.
London remains the Middle East travellers' fav-ourite European destination, with 85 per cent of regional visitors to Britain choosing it.
According to Carol Maddison, Regional Marketing Manager, VisitBritain, Middle East visitors spend an average of $1,098 per visit, three times more than the world average.
"In 2004 we received 414,000 visitors from the Middle East, representing an 11 per cent increase on 2003, with a combined spend of over a billion dollars, up 8 per cent from the previous year.
"We expect a further increase of 22 per cent for the first half of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004," said Maddison.
VisitBritain recently expanded its GCC operations with the launch of a contact centre in Dubai, to handle enquiries on tourism, culture and education issues. Phase two of the project will see the launch of more contact centres across key Middle East markets.
key players
Outbound markets and top destination
- Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest outbound markets.
- Tourists from the kingdom spend $6.7 billion annually on overseas travel.
- UAE travellers spend more than $4.9 billion, an average of $1,700 per trip.
- This is $500 higher than the European average.
- London is the Middle East travellers' favourite European destination.
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