The UAE has retained its position as the number one travel and tourism destination in the region, with visitor expenditures reaching nearly $30 billion (110 billion dirhams) in 2021 alone, according to a report by Alpen Capital on hospitality in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
It revealed that leisure and business visitors in the UAE spent a total of $27.4 billion in 2021, which is the highest rate among the GCC markets. The UAE had the largest share of total spending on leisure tourism in the region last year at 34.1 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia (33.2%) and Qatar (19.8%).
From January to July, the number of international visitors arriving in Dubai alone nearly tripled to 8.1 million, up from 2.85 million last year.
Saudi Arabia came in second place, with a total expenditure of $22.2 billion, followed by Qatar ($16.5 billion), Kuwait ($5.5 billion), Bahrain ($3 billion) and Oman ($2.5 billion). The UAE and Saudi Arabia cumulatively accounted for more than 64 percent of total travel and tourism spending within the region last year.
Source (Emirati Gulf Newspaper, Edited)
