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Middle East Tourism in 2024: Who Saw The Most Growth?


An image of Dubai with desert in the foreground.

Skift Take

Despite tensions all around it, the Middle East had another good year for tourism. Jordan was an exception to that, but its tourism minister remains hopeful for the future.
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Despite ongoing regional tensions in the region, the majority of Middle East and North African countries continued to post gains last year. Among the most visited countries, only Jordan saw a decrease in 2024.

In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Dubai continued their tourism pushes, while in North Africa, Morocco overtook Egypt as the most-visited country in the region.

Here's a look at the 2024 international tourism numbers across some of the Middle East's most visited countries.

Qatar: 25% Increase

Qatar saw five million international tourists in 2024, a 25% year-on-year improvement, according to the latest data from Qatar Tourism.

Nationals from countries in the GCC – Gulf Cooperation Council – made up 41% of visitors, with the remaining 59% from international markets. Key source markets included Saudi Arabia, India, United Kingdom, Germany, and the U.S.

Saad Bin Ali Al Kharji, chairman of Qatar Tourism said in a statement posted by the government: “Our tourism goals are ambitious but achievable. Between 2022 and 2030, we aim to nearly triple our visitor numbers and to at least double the tourism in-destination spend. We also aim to increase total tourism contribution to GDP to 10-12%.”

Morocco: 20% Increase

Morocco’s tourism industry saw a record 17.4 million arrivals in 2024, surpassing its 2026 target two years ahead of schedule, according to the Ministry of Tourism. The figure marks a 20% increase from 2023, with nearly three million additional visitors.

Foreign tourists accounted for 8.8 million arrivals, up 23% year-over-year, while visits from Moroccan expatriates rose 17% to 8.6 million.

Tourism Minister Fatim-Zahra Ammor attributed the growth to government investment and industry collaboration but did not specify which initiatives had the greatest impact.

The 2024 results put Morocco 35% ahead of its pre-pandemic performance in 2019, reinforcing its position as a key player in African tourism.

Turkey: 9.8% Increase

The number of foreign visitors and tourism revenues in Turkey rose to their new all-time highs in 2024, according to official data.

Revenue from tourists jumped 8.3% from the previous year to $61.1 billion, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

Separate data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry showed that the total number of visitors arriving in 2024 rose by 9.84% from the previous year to 62.27 million, including visitors of Turkish origin.

Saudi Arabia: 9.4% Increase

Saudi Arabia had 30 million international visitors last year, according to its minister of tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb, who revealed the number in January during a panel discussion at Davos. This reflects a 9.4% growth over 2023.

Al Khateeb said the focus, for now, is on driving domestic and regional travel. He said that the country had a total of 127 million travelers last year, meaning 97 million were domestic.

“We initially focus on domestic tourists, then we focus on tourists in the region, which are the Gulf countries, and we make sure that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia attracts citizens of the Gulf countries to it, and to enjoy the Riyadh Season, Jeddah Season, the Red Sea and Abha in the summer... and others. Then we reach European countries, neighboring countries, China and India, and these markets are very important,” he said.

2024 saw the launch of numerous campaigns designed to draw international tourists. "The Land is Calling" campaign launched in August targeted at the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and the United States.

A month later, it launched a campaign targeting Indian travelers. A campaign in China was also launched.

All these efforts centered on Saudi's growing leisure tourism offerings, though historically, the majority of travel into Saudi is religious tourism, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.

Al Khateeb affirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that religious tourism was still the biggest driver last year.

“Makkah and Madinah still top the list of the most visited destinations in Saudi Arabia, and attract millions of pilgrims annually, due to their religious importance.”

Dubai: 9% Increase

Dubai recorded 18.72 million international overnight visitors last year. This marks a 9% increase compared to the 17.15 million arrivals in the same period in 2023, according to data from the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET).

Performance on key hotel metrics remained strong in 2024, with average occupancy for the hotel sector growing to 78.2%, up from 77.4% in 2023.

The average daily rate (ADR) stood at $146, a marginal increase from $145 in 2023. Meanwhile, the revenue per available room (RevPAR) reached $114 in 2024, marking a 2% increase from $112 the previous year.

Egypt: 5.3% Increase

Egypt attracted a record 15.7 million tourists in 2024, surpassing the previous year's record of 14.9 million - a 5.37% increase, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported.

"What tourism has achieved in Egypt, despite the geopolitical situation in the region and the changes in the world in general, came as a result of a collective effort that we should all be proud of and preserve," Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy told a Senate meeting last month.

Tourism revenues for the year totaled $14.1 billion. Egypt’s top 10 markets in 2024 included Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the U.S., and France.

Jordan: 3.9% Decrease

Jordan, which shares a long border with Israel, had one of the most interesting travel shifts of last year. With 6.1 million people visiting last year, travel numbers dropped 3.9% in Jordan, largely driven by a sharp decrease in international tourism due to the Gaza crisis, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jordan.

"It is clear the war on Gaza had a detrimental impact on the performance of tourism in Jordan, as witnessed by the drops in number of visitors and receipts [spending]," wrote the Ministry of Tourism in its 2024 annual review.

The most significant impact of the war on Gaza came from international tourism. The number of international visitors declined by 600,000, leading to a drop of $692 million in spending. This sharp decline was partially offset by an increase of 196,000 visitors from the GCC, contributing $213 million.

Additionally, spending from Arab visitors rose by $44 million, while Jordanian expat receipts increased by $161 million. These fluctuations resulted in a net global decline of 245,000 visitors, with a total revenue loss of $273 million compared to 2023.

At the Skift Global Forum East 2024 in November, Lina Annab, Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, said the sector has seen "drastic drops" with certain markets, but others are holding strong, or even growing.

"Even though we have seen drastic drops in visitation from certain markets, our diversity has saved us in a way where drops in certain markets were met by [other] markets maintaining or increasing," the minister said at the Skift Global Forum East 2024 in Dubai. "Jordan’s source markets are quite concentrated in Europe, America, and the region. We divide by GCC and Arab countries. GCC and Arab countries we’ve seen an increase [in visitation]." 

The tourism minister said that a priority moving forward is reassuring Jordan is a safe destination.

"What are we doing to reassure? We are utilizing typical marketing techniques. We’re saying: “Don’t take our word for it, just visit.” We have influencers, celebrities come to Jordan to share their stories. Time and time again, we find that Jordan is much more resilient than we even thought."

"This reassurance [doesn’t come] just by saying how safe it is. The resilience of the Jordanian tourism sector is shown to travelers who come here. Jordan is on the bucket list of every person I’ve met."

Jordan's Ministry of Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities did not immediately respond to Skift's request for comment.

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