National tourism organisations target high spending Arab travellers

No less than six new national tourism boards from Europe, Asia and Africa have launched direct Middle East operations in Dubai this year, following in the footsteps of the long-established VisitBritain, the national tourism board of Britain, and India Government Tourist Office (IGTO).

"According to the World Tourism Ogranisation, Arab tourists from the Gulf states alone spend more than US $12 billion on overseas vacations - that's a very enticing market," said Chris Chackal, Group Exhibition Director - Overseas Events, Reed Travel Exhibitions, the organiser of Arabian Travel Market, the region's premier travel and tourism trade event.

"Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest outbound markets with tourists from the Kingdom spending US $6.7 billion annually on overseas travel - that's about 5% of the country's GDP.

"And UAE travellers alone spend more than US$4.9 million, an average of US$1,700 per trip, which is US$500 higher than the European average.

"At this year's Arabian Travel Market we had 43 national and tourism boards exhibiting, an indication of the Middle East's massive outbound travel potential."

Germany, Turkey, Cyprus, Singapore, Malaysia and Morocco have all set up shop in Dubai and others may follow soon as record-breaking outbound travel activity continues.

The German Tourist Board, (GTB) which launched its direct UAE presence early this year, says that 2005 overnight stays from the GCC to Germany up to May saw an increase of more than 15%.

"Saudi Arabia, being the core market, accounted for 50% of those and the UAE and Kuwait contributed 15% each," said Heike Murad, Manager GCC, GTB.

"The GCC is a strategic growth market for German tourism and we expect a further increase for 2005, to follow on a trend which has continued for the last five years," she said.

London remains the Mid East travellers' favourite European destination, with 85 per cent of regional visitors to Britain choosing England's capital. According to Carol Maddison, Regional Marketing Manager, VisitBritain, Middle East visitors spend an average of US$ 1,098 per visit, three times more than the world average.

"In 2004 we received 414,000 visitors from the Middle East, representing an 11 per cent increase on 2003, with a combined spend of over a billion dollars, up 8 per cent from the previous year.

"We expect a further increase of 22 per cent for the first half of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004," said Maddison.

To handle anticipated growth, VisitBritain recently expanded its GCC operations with the launch of a contact centre in Dubai, to handle enquiries on tourism, culture and education issues. Phase two of the project will see the launch of more contact centres across key Middle East markets.

Meanwhile, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus is investing in the region to tap into the growing potential, with the launch of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), Dubai office last April.

"We expect a total of 25,000 Middle East visitors this year, an 8 per cent increase on 2004. Lebanon is a major contributor, with 22 per cent more Lebanese coming to Cyprus this year, and CTO plans to launch its Beirut operations soon," said Vassilis Theocharides, Director, CTO, GCC.

Cyprus will increase its Arabian Travel Market 2006 participation by 60%, following in the steps of other national tourism organisations which have expressed strong interest for more space at next year's event, including Turkey, Greece, India and Malaysia.

Asia is also a major growth market for Arab travellers with Malaysia expecting a total of 200,000 visitors from the Middle East during last summer, an increase of nearly 60 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

And the Hong Kong Tourism Board says that tourist arrivals from the GCC recorded an increase of 41.7 per cent this year, making the Middle East the city's fastest growing tourism market.

"The Middle East's growing potential as a key feeder market for some of the world's most popular destinations is reflected in the projected growth of next year's Arabian Travel Market, which will be partly driven by increased participation from national tourism organisations," said Chackal.

"The increased budgets allocated for next year's event are a clear indication that global tourism destinations have earmarked the Middle East as one of the world's most important outbound markets and proof of Arabian Travel Market's strong reputation as a business-generating trade forum."

Arabian Travel Market 2006 will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 2 - 6.