Skift Take
UNWTO may not be too far off the mark on its recovery prediction for the Middle East considering the number of hotel openings and new projects in the region. However, the road to recovery is fraught with economic and geopolitical risks.
Middle East Travel Roundup
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Having witnessed a stronger than expected recovery in 2022, the Middle East could see international tourist arrivals return to pre-pandemic levels this year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Data from the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer noted that while all regions enjoyed significant increase in international arrivals in 2022 over the previous year, the Middle East recorded the strongest relative increase as international tourist numbers climbed to 83 percent of pre-pandemic numbers last year. "The region welcomed large events such as Expo 2020 Dubai and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as well as a highly attended Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia,” noted UNWTO in its report. “UNWTO anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty,” Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili said. UNWTO noted that over 900 million tourists travelled internationally in 2022, which was double the number of those who travelled in 2021 though still 37 percent below 2019.
Passengers travelling on Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudia, would soon be able to avail a free four-day tourist visa, according to local media reports. Saudia is set to announce the “Your Ticket is a Visa” program, which enables tourists on board its flights to enter Saudi Arabia for a period of 96 hours, the airline’s spokesperson, Abdullah Al-Shahrani said to the local media. While a date has not been announced for the launch but Al Shahrani said that those coming to Saudi Arabia, through Saudia, would be able to travel across the kingdom and also perform Umrah. The airline has allocated over 25.3 million seats for international flights in 2023 across almost 90,000 flights, up 40 percent from 2022. Seat capacity on domestic flights for 2023 has also been increased by about half a million seats to reach over 17.8 million, with the total number of domestic flights exceeding 102,100.
Saudi Arabia’s megaproject Red Sea Destination would not be imposing any restrictions on tourists visiting the destination and would be governed by internation