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In a new episode of Marketplace Middle East, CNN’s Eleni Giokos attends the Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East’s leading international travel and tourism event. This year’s theme is ‘enhanced connectivity’, displaying the continually evolving travel industry. According to the World Travel and Tourism council, this industry is expected to contribute $11.7 trillion to the global economy in 2025. 

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation says that 2024 marked a virtual 99% recovery of international arrivals to pre-pandemic levels. Natalia Bayona, the Executive Director of UN Tourism tells Giokos, "Today, more than ever, confidence and trust are the key words if we want tourism to become sustainable. And today, when we see the facts and figures we see, that of course, the Middle East is gaining a lot of growth when it comes to tourism arrivals, especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt."

As the strongest-performing region, the Middle East has not only regained its international arrivals back to pre-pandemic levels, its surpassed it, by 32%. Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi, the CEO of Visit Qatar, reflects on how major events have played their part in boosting this industry, "Hosting the FIFA World Cup really propelled Qatar on the stage […]. The numbers during 2022 were 2.56 million, including the World Cup. So, after that, in 2023, we achieved 4.1 million. Now, in 2024, we achieved 5.1, the numbers are increasing."

Al-Mawlawi explains the potential coming from other countries to increase this boost, "We are planning our marketing based on the preferred markets, and we can see a lot of potentials coming from China, India, and the far west market. But this is all depending with the connectivity because we need to work hand by hand with Qatar Airways to study which markets or which cities have a better potential than the others."

Giokos speaks with Jane Sun, the CEO of Trip.com Group, about the future technology trends that she is anticipating; "Personalised trip is very popular on our platform. So, normally, we have this product if we know how many customers are travelling, what’s their budget? What’s their date will automatically personalise their tools for our customers? And that’s growing very well for us."

The Middle East is forecast to generate 2.14 million new jobs in its tourism sector by 2034, almost half of that figure is expected to be in Saudi Arabia. Fahd Hamidaddin, the CEO of Saudi Tourism Authority, explains how he plans to keep this growth momentum going, "They say, build the destination and they will come. They also say that if you build a successful airline, you build a successful destination. They also say if you build a good airport and aviation hub, you build a destination. We’re doing all the three and the three haven’t started."

Hamidaddin tells Giokos how he’s been able to break through the negative perceptions that tensions in the region have created, "For a destination like ours which is, it’s so large and so diverse, we’ve only been growing, despite all the unrest globally and the unrest regionally. Now we see tariffs are also impacting inbound travel to the US, increasing inflation in many countries, affecting outbound from China and I think the dust hasn’t rested. But we’re an eye where the opportunity for every challenge rises and we make sure we’re the first to capture."

Rising costs could give emerging destinations the chance to grow as tourists look for lesser known countries, such as the Sultanate of Oman. Oman’s Minister of Heritage and Tourism, H.E. Salem bin Mohammed Al Mahrouqi, describes the attraction Oman has for tourists, "Stability, maturity, experiences, heritage, landscape.More Russians are coming to Oman. The Chinese as well. The numbers are increasing in spite of the regional condition taking place. We are keen to mitigate the impact and therefore are opening Oman to new markets."

Al Mahrouqi ends the show by explaining how investment all over the country is being prioritised to engage with more tourists, "The priority is to push the investment to other areas that have not seen more investment, comparing to the capital Muscat and Salalah in the South. The island of Masirah. The location the climate that it provides, the migrations of birds coming from Russia, from Europe, on their way back to Africa. That, by itself, is an attractive aspect."