Travel in Middle East and Africa

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

Vision 2030 targets 100 million tourists a year

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 includes tourism as a major pillar in its ambitions, with a target of welcoming 100 million visitors a year to the Kingdom by this date. To cope with this influx of tourists, more than 40,000 hotel rooms are currently under construction in the Kingdom and it has also opened the new Red Sea International airport, which runs only on renewable energy.

LCCs continue expanding

Low-cost carriers such as Flynas, Flydubai or Air Arabia continue to expand. In South Africa, Flysafair's regional expansion and infrastructure development includes key airports such as Cape Town International, although it is also expanding beyond its home market, offering lower fares to compete with full-service carriers on major international routes.

Israeli travel industry impacted by the war

Conditions have gradually been normalising in the Israeli travel industry after inbound and outbound tourism almost completely ground to a halt in the wake of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. However, the outcome of the war is still likely to play a key role in the performance of the Israeli travel industry over the early part of the forecast period.

Egypt looks to ease access to the country

As the Egyptian authorities look to help the local travel industry in its ongoing recovery from the pandemic, it has been easing visa regulations and simplifying inbound travel. Five-year visas are now available to nationals from over 180 countries, allowing 90-day stays in Egypt for travellers who want to explore the country extensively, while nationals from nine short-haul destination countries were given visa-free access to Egypt from mid-2024.