December 2004
Global tourism is growing, with worldwide arrivals rising by 12% to around 526m in the first eight months of 2004, compared with the same period in 2003. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the market will triple in size by 2020, with the Middle East region poised for spectacular growth.
Middle Eastern tourism on the rise again
Figures from The World Travel Market Global Report 2004-05, unveiled in November at the World Travel Market (WTM) exhibition at Excel in London, reveal that all regions of the world were benefiting from the trend, with the Middle East following up a 3% rise in 2003 with growth levels of 24% to total 23m arrivals.
Most destinations in the Middle East that have monthly data available are continuing the good performance of 2003 and early 2004, based on the strong development of the intra-regional market. Lebanon, for example, received 42% more tourists from the Arab market up to July 2004, while the total number grew by an estimated 30%. In Syria, there was a 60% increase in total arrivals, with a 70% rise in inter-Arab trade. Other destinations such as Dubai (+9%), Bahrain (+19%) and Jordan (+18%) also benefited from strong world demand, according to the WTO.
Various destinations in the Mediterranean area continued the positive trend of the last quarter of 2003, drawing
largely from European source markets, both mature and emerging ones, especially Russia. Egypt, where the largest market share belongs to western and southern Europe, saw visitors increase by 49% up to August, while receipts increased by 52% in the first half-year. Likewise, international arrivals to the North African destinations of Tunisia and Morocco grew by 19% and 17% respectively and in 2004 tourism receipts are also growing (+3% in Morocco and +15% in Tunisia up to June 2004).
According to WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli, "Tourism has recovered strongly in 2004, and is again in an ascendant curve. The fear factor has clearly faded away and travel confidence is back. Even though many threats remain, we see that they have far less impact on tourism than before."
Hotel occupancy levels reflect dynamic situation
According to MKG Consulting, a company specialising in hotel data, the majority of countries in the zone are running at full steam. The UAE, thanks to the dynamism of Dubai, recorded a rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) close to that of the zone as a whole. Egypt saw an even greater rise (+12 points in occupancy, and +25% in the average room rate for a rise in RevPAR of nearly 50%).The constant devaluation of the Egyptian pound since
2001 strengthens the attractiveness of the country with regards to international customers. Saudi Arabia, the best perceived regional destination in terms of security, is seeing its hotel results remain on a growing trend, despite the progressive pullout of US soldiers. Religious tourism is developing, while the authorities have extended the pilgrimage periods towards the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The overall average room rates in the Middle East zone remain stable, though the improvement at the level of occupancy assures a yearly RevPAR growth of over 12%.
The main explanation for this increase is the rise in intra-regional traffic. Arabs in the Gulf are giving preference to local destinations rather than making trips to the United States or Europe. Business tourism, resulting from the numerous infrastructure projects in cities such as Kuwait City, Dubai, Cairo and Abu Dhabi, has also proved beneficial to the sector.
A second pillar of support in hotel activity in the Middle East resides, paradoxically, in the war in Iraq: After having undergone a slowdown in activity during the beginning of the conflict, the countries of the Gulf today benefit from the presence of the US military and the support of businesses that are playing a role in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Up till now, Egypt and Dubai have remained the region's major destinations for leisure customers from the West.
Though Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain are putting in place a policy of easing visa restrictions and increasing promotions, they have not yet been able to match Dubai's level of activity.
Buoyant investment in the region
Tourism benefits local economies by increasing foreign exchange earnings, creating employment and investment opportunities, increasing government revenues, developing a country's image, and supporting all sectors of the economy as well as local communities.
Egypt's minister of tourism, Ahmed Al Maghraby, has pledged to boost tourist growth rates by a minimum 7% per year over the next 10 years. The number of visiting tourists will go up from 6m to 15m over that period and there are currently 30,000 hotel rooms under construction to accommodate the influx. "The plan for tourism development is aimed at doubling accommodation. Tourism development of the Mediterranean coastal areas will cost $300m," the minister explained. He has also decided on a set of policies to attract increased Arab investments in Egyptian tourism. These include offering land for tourist investment projects at cheap rates, facilitating investment procedures and making huge customs exemptions for imports required by those projects.
At the Arabian Travel Market 2004, held in Dubai in May, the Qatar Tourism Authority's international PR manager, Bassem Al Terkawi, announced a raft of new hotel and infrastructure projects in the country at a cost of more than $2.5bn. This expansion in Qatar's tourism industry comes on the back of the announcement of a new $5bn airport in Doha, scheduled for completion by 2015.
A 20-year tourism masterplan is being developed by Kuwait in co-ordination with the World Tourism Organisation and United Nations Development Programme. Tourism is now a strategic objective in order to diversify the national income and create new jobs for Kuwaitis. Currently nationals spend an estimated $3bn on tourism outside their homeland, according to official sources, and the government is keen to see a high proportion of this revenue boosting Kuwait's GDP. Whereas statistical studies show that 79% of Kuwaitis elect to spend vacations abroad, the same percentage would prefer to spend their prime vacation time in Kuwait if enough domestic tourism facilities were available. As a second priority, Kuwait is positioning itself as an inbound GCC tourist destination with a strong emphasis on business traveller meetings and exhibitions, and as an excellent family holiday destination for GCC residents.
Dubai, which is rapidly becoming a playground for the rich and famous, is undergoing an astonishing amount of development, including no fewer than 23 hotels under construction, several of which are nearing completion. Hotel beds in Dubai are expected to grow from 39,800 in 2003 to 117,300 by 2010, virtually trebling capacity.
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce has unveiled details of other developments, including Dubai Festival City, the biggest tourism project in the Middle East, the first phase of which will open later this year, the Dubailand theme park and new shopping malls. Dubai Municipality has awarded a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to the Dubai-registered International Projects Development Company (IPDC) to develop an entertainment centre within Dubai's Zabeel Park. Stargate is the first of five projects planned on the Zabeel Park development.
Dubai Municipality is investing AED 300m (US$82m) in the project, with a further AED 1,000m (US$272m) expected from the private sector.
Whilst the Palm has been described as the eighth wonder of the world, the developer, Nakheel, is progressing another ambitious project, The World, amongst its already vast portfolio including Jumeirah, Jebel Ali. Dubai is projected to have 15m tourists per annum by 2010 and Dubai's tourism market is also progressing rapidly.
Oman's authorities are also backing a number of ambitious projects such as the Wave, a $805m resort near Muscat due to open in 2008.
Lebanon will be the scene of mega-projects such as the $2bn transformation of Jbeil into a luxury resort with a marina, cruise terminal, spas and beach resorts; a $326m marina city at Dbayyeh; a $1.4bn mountain resort at Sannine Zenith; and the opening of Beirut's $110m Four Seasons hotel in 2006, all paving the way for the revival of Lebanon as a revitalised Mediterranean playground.
Promoting tourism in the area, a strategic priority
In order to effectively maximise the area's tourism potential, a raft of tourist boards to promote the area have been introduced: Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Abu Dhabi are all looking to showcase their many and diverse attractions.
For the Middle East as a whole, this spirit of competition between the various countries involved should turn the region into one of the most dynamic in the world for tourism.
A new satellite TV channel, the Arab Tourism Channel (ATC), was launched in mid-October from Dubai with the aim of promoting tourism in Arab world, the first of its kind in the region. The ATC initially started with a four-hour trial broadcast from Dubai using the Arabsat 2A satellite. Broadcasts in December are being lengthened to eight hours a day. The channel is aiming to support tourism in the Arab world, with programmes on general tourism, health tourism, cultural tourism and religious tourism.
Global tourism is growing, with worldwide arrivals rising by 12% to around 526m in the first eight months of 2004, compared with the same period in 2003. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the market will triple in size by 2020, with the Middle East region poised for spectacular growth.
Middle Eastern tourism on the rise again
Figures from The World Travel Market Global Report 2004-05, unveiled in November at the World Travel Market (WTM) exhibition at Excel in London, reveal that all regions of the world were benefiting from the trend, with the Middle East following up a 3% rise in 2003 with growth levels of 24% to total 23m arrivals.
Most destinations in the Middle East that have monthly data available are continuing the good performance of 2003 and early 2004, based on the strong development of the intra-regional market. Lebanon, for example, received 42% more tourists from the Arab market up to July 2004, while the total number grew by an estimated 30%. In Syria, there was a 60% increase in total arrivals, with a 70% rise in inter-Arab trade. Other destinations such as Dubai (+9%), Bahrain (+19%) and Jordan (+18%) also benefited from strong world demand, according to the WTO.
Various destinations in the Mediterranean area continued the positive trend of the last quarter of 2003, drawing
largely from European source markets, both mature and emerging ones, especially Russia. Egypt, where the largest market share belongs to western and southern Europe, saw visitors increase by 49% up to August, while receipts increased by 52% in the first half-year. Likewise, international arrivals to the North African destinations of Tunisia and Morocco grew by 19% and 17% respectively and in 2004 tourism receipts are also growing (+3% in Morocco and +15% in Tunisia up to June 2004).
According to WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli, "Tourism has recovered strongly in 2004, and is again in an ascendant curve. The fear factor has clearly faded away and travel confidence is back. Even though many threats remain, we see that they have far less impact on tourism than before."
Hotel occupancy levels reflect dynamic situation
According to MKG Consulting, a company specialising in hotel data, the majority of countries in the zone are running at full steam. The UAE, thanks to the dynamism of Dubai, recorded a rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) close to that of the zone as a whole. Egypt saw an even greater rise (+12 points in occupancy, and +25% in the average room rate for a rise in RevPAR of nearly 50%).The constant devaluation of the Egyptian pound since
2001 strengthens the attractiveness of the country with regards to international customers. Saudi Arabia, the best perceived regional destination in terms of security, is seeing its hotel results remain on a growing trend, despite the progressive pullout of US soldiers. Religious tourism is developing, while the authorities have extended the pilgrimage periods towards the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The overall average room rates in the Middle East zone remain stable, though the improvement at the level of occupancy assures a yearly RevPAR growth of over 12%.
The main explanation for this increase is the rise in intra-regional traffic. Arabs in the Gulf are giving preference to local destinations rather than making trips to the United States or Europe. Business tourism, resulting from the numerous infrastructure projects in cities such as Kuwait City, Dubai, Cairo and Abu Dhabi, has also proved beneficial to the sector.
A second pillar of support in hotel activity in the Middle East resides, paradoxically, in the war in Iraq: After having undergone a slowdown in activity during the beginning of the conflict, the countries of the Gulf today benefit from the presence of the US military and the support of businesses that are playing a role in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Up till now, Egypt and Dubai have remained the region's major destinations for leisure customers from the West.
Though Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain are putting in place a policy of easing visa restrictions and increasing promotions, they have not yet been able to match Dubai's level of activity.
Buoyant investment in the region
Tourism benefits local economies by increasing foreign exchange earnings, creating employment and investment opportunities, increasing government revenues, developing a country's image, and supporting all sectors of the economy as well as local communities.
Egypt's minister of tourism, Ahmed Al Maghraby, has pledged to boost tourist growth rates by a minimum 7% per year over the next 10 years. The number of visiting tourists will go up from 6m to 15m over that period and there are currently 30,000 hotel rooms under construction to accommodate the influx. "The plan for tourism development is aimed at doubling accommodation. Tourism development of the Mediterranean coastal areas will cost $300m," the minister explained. He has also decided on a set of policies to attract increased Arab investments in Egyptian tourism. These include offering land for tourist investment projects at cheap rates, facilitating investment procedures and making huge customs exemptions for imports required by those projects.
At the Arabian Travel Market 2004, held in Dubai in May, the Qatar Tourism Authority's international PR manager, Bassem Al Terkawi, announced a raft of new hotel and infrastructure projects in the country at a cost of more than $2.5bn. This expansion in Qatar's tourism industry comes on the back of the announcement of a new $5bn airport in Doha, scheduled for completion by 2015.
A 20-year tourism masterplan is being developed by Kuwait in co-ordination with the World Tourism Organisation and United Nations Development Programme. Tourism is now a strategic objective in order to diversify the national income and create new jobs for Kuwaitis. Currently nationals spend an estimated $3bn on tourism outside their homeland, according to official sources, and the government is keen to see a high proportion of this revenue boosting Kuwait's GDP. Whereas statistical studies show that 79% of Kuwaitis elect to spend vacations abroad, the same percentage would prefer to spend their prime vacation time in Kuwait if enough domestic tourism facilities were available. As a second priority, Kuwait is positioning itself as an inbound GCC tourist destination with a strong emphasis on business traveller meetings and exhibitions, and as an excellent family holiday destination for GCC residents.
Dubai, which is rapidly becoming a playground for the rich and famous, is undergoing an astonishing amount of development, including no fewer than 23 hotels under construction, several of which are nearing completion. Hotel beds in Dubai are expected to grow from 39,800 in 2003 to 117,300 by 2010, virtually trebling capacity.
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce has unveiled details of other developments, including Dubai Festival City, the biggest tourism project in the Middle East, the first phase of which will open later this year, the Dubailand theme park and new shopping malls. Dubai Municipality has awarded a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract to the Dubai-registered International Projects Development Company (IPDC) to develop an entertainment centre within Dubai's Zabeel Park. Stargate is the first of five projects planned on the Zabeel Park development.
Dubai Municipality is investing AED 300m (US$82m) in the project, with a further AED 1,000m (US$272m) expected from the private sector.
Whilst the Palm has been described as the eighth wonder of the world, the developer, Nakheel, is progressing another ambitious project, The World, amongst its already vast portfolio including Jumeirah, Jebel Ali. Dubai is projected to have 15m tourists per annum by 2010 and Dubai's tourism market is also progressing rapidly.
Oman's authorities are also backing a number of ambitious projects such as the Wave, a $805m resort near Muscat due to open in 2008.
Lebanon will be the scene of mega-projects such as the $2bn transformation of Jbeil into a luxury resort with a marina, cruise terminal, spas and beach resorts; a $326m marina city at Dbayyeh; a $1.4bn mountain resort at Sannine Zenith; and the opening of Beirut's $110m Four Seasons hotel in 2006, all paving the way for the revival of Lebanon as a revitalised Mediterranean playground.
Promoting tourism in the area, a strategic priority
In order to effectively maximise the area's tourism potential, a raft of tourist boards to promote the area have been introduced: Jordan, Egypt, Oman and Abu Dhabi are all looking to showcase their many and diverse attractions.
For the Middle East as a whole, this spirit of competition between the various countries involved should turn the region into one of the most dynamic in the world for tourism.
A new satellite TV channel, the Arab Tourism Channel (ATC), was launched in mid-October from Dubai with the aim of promoting tourism in Arab world, the first of its kind in the region. The ATC initially started with a four-hour trial broadcast from Dubai using the Arabsat 2A satellite. Broadcasts in December are being lengthened to eight hours a day. The channel is aiming to support tourism in the Arab world, with programmes on general tourism, health tourism, cultural tourism and religious tourism.
© The Middle East 2004
