Middle East Tourism Surges, Hotel Construction Hits All-Time High

Skift's State of Travel 2024 report highlighted that the Middle East and Africa are seeing a surge in international tourism, driven largely by Saudi Arabia's push in recent years.

Here is the recent performance across Saudi, the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, four key tourism markets in the region.

Saudi Arabia saw a combined 60 million international and domestic tourists in the first six months of the year. The kingdom did not share the split between international and domestic numbers.

Tourists in the period contributed $38.1 billion in expenditure during the first half of 2024.

Closed off to international tourism until 2019, Saudi Arabia has a target of 150 million tourists by the end of the decade, with 70 million coming from overseas. The country also wants tourism to become its second-largest industry behind oil.

The graph below from Skift's State of Travel