UAE residents spend US$ 4.9 billion on outbound travel in 2004

The report, based on primary research conducted amongst UAE residents, addresses the needs of the travel & tourism trade by providing intelligence on the travel habits, behaviour and preferences of outbound travellers from the UAE.

"64% of UAE travellers travel abroad at least once a year, majority of them travelling on leisure & VFR (visiting friends & family) trips. Over two-thirds of holiday goers travel with family, and one-half prefer to stay in four & five star hotels or furnished apartments. On an average they spend 24 nights abroad per trip with an average expenditure per trip of over US$ 1,700, higher than the European average of about US$1,200. These characteristics of the UAE outbound travel market are increasingly being recognized by intra-regional & inter-regional tourism destinations that have begun to focus on UAE as a lucrative source market for tourism revenues." said Gautam Sen Gupta, Managing Director of Market Vision & a hospitality & tourism professional with 25 years of industry experience.

The study reports that in 2004, 2.86 million trips were undertaken by UAE outbound travellers with total expenditure amounting to US$ 4.9 billion. 69% of the trips were for leisure & VFR (visiting friends & relatives) purposes, 26% for business and 5% for medical, religious & other purposes. Altogether, UAE travellers spent 51.1 million nights on international trips in 2004, of which 87% were spent on leisure & VFR trips.

"The consistent growth in population coupled with the hectic pace of economic and trade development has led to an increasing number of outbound leisure and business tourists from the UAE. As a result, UAE's share of total outbound tourist arrivals from the Middle East region has increased to 18 per cent in 2004 compared to 12 per cent in 2002. " said Sen Gupta.

Sen Gupta noted that while UAE travellers are globe-trotters travelling to various parts of the world, nearly two-thirds of travel is concentrated in the Asia-Pacific & Middle East regions. According to him, intra-regional travel within the Gulf and to other Middle East destinations is set to further increase, the added impetus being provided by greater ease of air access with more flight connections and the emergence of low-cost carriers.

"Inter-regional destinations in the Asia-Pacific region are also expected to gain while European destinations, some of which saw a decline in recent years, are re-emerging as strong contenders for increased tourist arrivals from the UAE", he added.

The increasing participation of various international tourism boards & tourism-related organizations in the Arabian Travel Market, held annually in May in Dubai, is indicative of the growing importance of the Middle East region, including the UAE, as a source market for international outbound tourism. In 2004, among others the boards of Algeria, Iran, Malta, Nepal and Ukraine participated for the first time; in 2005, new participants included Myanmar, Brazil and Finland. The UAE is also witnessing the establishment of a number of National Tourism Board offices, with increased marketing activity across the region.

"With increasing competition from intra-regional & inter-regional destinations, development of targeted marketing & communication strategies and tactics will become even more essential for destination marketers looking to attract UAE travellers. Such studies provide vital information for the formulation of focussed strategies." asserted Sen Gupta.