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Remarkable Tourist Performance Yields Substantial Results and Consolidates GCC GDP

The current momentum recorded by the regional tourism sector is exceptional

The growing focus of GCC states on tourism has yielded substantial results, expanding economic opportunities and helping Gulf economies survive current business pressures. The successful impact of tourism on the economy is attributable to the strong tourist infrastructure enjoyed by the region’s countries, which gives the tourist sector a regional and global competitive edge that reflects positively on total revenues.

In its weekly real estate report, Al Mazaya Holding said that the region’s countries are mulling over all possibilities and opportunities that can help ensure stable and increasing growth rates amidst current local and global challenges that are difficult to survive through the plans and strategies now in place. The report termed the current momentum recorded by the regional tourism sector as exceptional, being mainly created by the private sector, with the region’s governments continuing to provide all forms of support to their economic platforms, primarily tourism, to help ensure the required growth rates.

Tourism is regarded by the region’s countries as a major enabler for economic diversification, owing to its substantial contribution to creating the needed momentum on the trade, industrial, real estate and service sectors during both growth and deceleration times.

Citing the successful tourist projects launched in the region over the past period, the report said the innovative tourist products introduced by the GCC states are characterised by cultural diversity and provide different options for edutainment and leisure that cater to all needs in a way that attracts global interest. This helps woo more foreign investments into the region and create solid ground for luxury real estate projects.

Shedding light on the Qatari market, the report said that tourist expansion plans are going at full tilt, with the Qatari government working to attracting over 10 million tourists by the year 2030 and increasing tourism revenues to around $18 billion.

The report added that the Qatari government plans to draw new investments to the tourism sector amounting to $45 billion in the form of cultural, infrastructure and transportation projects, which are expected to increase by 8% annually up until the year 2026. The report referred to the efforts being made to stamp out all obstacles met by the tourist sector, including facilitating tourist visa requirements, developing more effective plans that market the country’s tourist potential, increasing discounts and promotions, and expanding leisure and business tourism options. The successes achieved over the past period are encouraging enough to invite more investments to the sector and expand tourist projects, including the construction of additional numbers of resorts and hotels.

In Saudi Arabia, the tourism sector, being an efficient generator of job opportunities, has been receiving growing attention from the Saudi government, with available data indicating that the sector can provide up to 1.2 million job opportunities by the year 2020 as a result of the momentum created by the government’s increasing focus on directing more capital inflows to the industry.

Within this context, the Saudi Tourism Authority has allocated SAR 3 billion in credit to establish hotels and other types of tourist facilities until the year 2020. As a result, the number of hotels in KSA has increased by 6% this year, in addition to a 4% increase in the number of furnished apartments. However, the coming period requires more effort by the government to survive the multi-faceted challenges besetting the sector.

The report highlighted the continual progress made by the UAE tourist sector over the past 17 years despite economic pressures. Having met the requirements of the private-public sector integration, the UAE tourist sector has ushered in a fresh phase of creativity and innovative concepts, relying on a highly advanced infrastructure and a well-diversified economy that ensures increasing demand and competiveness.

Despite the pressures besetting other business platforms, the UAE tourist sector is launching well-thought-out projects, with the industry’s contribution to the nation’s GDP amounting to 12% and tourist spending reaching AED 110 billion by the end of 2016. Online tourist reservations in the UAE hit an enviable value of AED33 billion, accounting for 55% of the region’s total electronic reservations.

In conclusion, the report noted that the average hotel occupancy in the UAE jumped to 81% by the beginning of the current year, with a 6% increase in demand, topping the region’s tourist sectors in terms of hotel occupancy, which reached 67% in Saudi Arabia and 70% in Qatar.