Outbound travel in the UAE generated $4.9 billion (Dh17.98 billion) from 2.86 million trips and 51.1 million room nights last year, according to a recent report by Market Vision, a Dubai-based market research company.
This translates to a $1,718 (Dh6.322) spend per trip or $96 (Dh353) spend per night in overseas destinations by the UAE's residents in 2004.
Last month it released a report, Trends in Outbound Travel from the UAE, which provides detailed insights to the outbound scenario of the UAE's outbound travel trends.
The 2.86 million trips in a country inhabited by a little more than 4 million people represents a high ratio of outbound travel, meaning two-thirds of the country's population travelled out of the country at least a year. This, of course, includes all travel trips, including annual vacation by workers, family vacations as well as business travel.
Travel and tour operators sell Dh6 billion worth of air tickets in the UAE annually, according to market estimates, which averages the price of a return air ticket at Dh2,097 for 2.86 million trips.
The UAE's 4 million population represents 1.5 per cent of the Middle East's total population. But it also represents 12 per cent of the total Middle East's outbound market, Market Vision report says.
In the GCC, the UAE represents 12 per cent of Gulf's population, but 18 per cent of the region's outbound travel.
This means, per capita travel out of the UAE is much higher than any other country in the GCC and the Middle East.
In the GCC, UAE is the second largest outbound market after Saudi Arabia. However, in relation to the population, the UAE is number one outbound market in the entire region, in terms of per capita travel. The GCC outbound represents 68 per cent of all the outbound travel in the Middle East. This means, per capita outbound travel ratio is much higher in the GCC than the rest of the Middle East, which is about 32 per cent, or less than half of GCC's outbound travel.
UAE's outbound travel profile, according to Market Vision, shows that 68 per cent of travellers are families. This figure is one of the highest in the world. The country has a high number of single individuals as most working class people cannot afford to keep families, or are not allowed to sponsor their spouses due to the salary limit on sponsoring families. Considering this, 68 per cent family travel is a high number.
Besides, an average length of 24 nights holiday is unusually high. Generally, GCC travellers are perceived as high spenders.
A breakdown of the 2.86 million trips shows that holiday and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) segment represents 69 per cent, business 26 per cent and others about 5 per cent of the trips.
Among the 51.1 million roomnights, holiday and VFR represents 87 per cent of the spending, leaving 9 per cent for business and 4 per cent for other categories (medical/study, etc). The difference reflects the fact that holiday and VFR segment generate more roomnights than that of the business travel.
Holidaymakers spend more time in foreign destinations than business travellers.
The report shows travel to North America and Europe declining following the 9/11 events. However new destinations such as Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, Seychelles have become popular. "Friendly" destinations such as Malaysia, Turkey and Thailand have also recorded strong growth.
The biggest beneficiary of all this, however, is the Middle East itself. International arrivals have recorded double-digit and in some cases, triple-digit growth.
Travel to Egypt, for example, has gone up by 34 per cent, while Malaysia recorded a 250 per cent growth in arrivals from the region, according to the report.
SUMMER FUN
Regional destinations grab opportunity
- September 11 events and subsequent developments that reshaped relations between the Arab world and the West have fuelled intra-regional summer travel, giving a solid boost to regional summer tourism.
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Summer retail promotions such as Dubai Summer Surprises (June 22 to September 2), Sharjah Summer Promotions (June 15 to August 31) Khareef Festival in Salalah (June 15 to September 15) and Qatar Summer Wonders have been attracting a large number of tourists.
- Dubai Summer Surprises attracted 1.51 million visitors last year, up from 600,000 in 1998.
Gulf News
