03 April 2012
JEDDAH - Some 810,688 tourists from the Middle East went to the US in 2011, an increase of 10 percent year-on-yea, the latest data from the Washington DC-based Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, said.
The most popular months for visitors to the states were the summer months of July and August, with 98,731 and 95,243 visitors respectively. The least popular months proved to be February and March.
The US attracted around 62 million visitors in 2011 in total, meaning Middle East visitors accounted for just 1.3 percent of inbound traffic.
Despite this, the US market has begun to look to the lucrative Arab market to help boost falling visitor numbers from the UK, one of its biggest markets, which saw a 0.4 percent decline in tourists in 2011, as well as Japan, which was down four percent and the Caribbean, which tumbled nine percent.
Hawaii has even recruited a number of regional tourism ambassadors to help promote the US state to Arabs. The Hawaii Tourism Association (HiTA) has linked up with the Unique Choice travel agency in Doha and the National Vocation Company in Saudi Arabia to market the US-run Pacific Ocean islands.
HiTA has also appointed tourism ambassadors in both Gulf countries and will host a marketing event for Arab travel agents at the International Pow Wow conference in Los Angeles next month, with agents from Saudi, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman due to attend.
JEDDAH - Some 810,688 tourists from the Middle East went to the US in 2011, an increase of 10 percent year-on-yea, the latest data from the Washington DC-based Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, said.
The most popular months for visitors to the states were the summer months of July and August, with 98,731 and 95,243 visitors respectively. The least popular months proved to be February and March.
The US attracted around 62 million visitors in 2011 in total, meaning Middle East visitors accounted for just 1.3 percent of inbound traffic.
Despite this, the US market has begun to look to the lucrative Arab market to help boost falling visitor numbers from the UK, one of its biggest markets, which saw a 0.4 percent decline in tourists in 2011, as well as Japan, which was down four percent and the Caribbean, which tumbled nine percent.
Hawaii has even recruited a number of regional tourism ambassadors to help promote the US state to Arabs. The Hawaii Tourism Association (HiTA) has linked up with the Unique Choice travel agency in Doha and the National Vocation Company in Saudi Arabia to market the US-run Pacific Ocean islands.
HiTA has also appointed tourism ambassadors in both Gulf countries and will host a marketing event for Arab travel agents at the International Pow Wow conference in Los Angeles next month, with agents from Saudi, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman due to attend.
© The Saudi Gazette 2012
