The travel and tourism sector’s contribution to the Gulf’s GDP by the end of 2024 reached approximately 11.4 percent, with a value of $247.1 billion. The latest data released by the Statistical Center for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) indicated that the growth rate of the sector’s contribution to the Gulf’s GDP increased by approximately 31.9 percent compared to 2019.
In 2023, the sector contributed 10.8 percent to the Gulf GDP, with an annual growth rate of 29.4 percent compared to the previous year. The added value of the sector reached about $223.4 billion by the end of 2023.
Sector’s contribution to hit $371.2 billion in 2034
The center added that the travel and tourism sector’s contribution to the Gulf’s GDP is expected to reach 13.3 percent in 2034, with a value of $371.2 billion. The average annual growth rate of the sector’s contribution from 2024 to 2034 is expected to exceed 4.2 percent.
The statistics also indicated that the average annual growth rate in the number of tourists travelling between Gulf countries from 2019 to 2023 reached 41.5 percent, which accounted for 26.5 percent of the total international tourists arriving in Gulf countries in 2023.
In 2023, about 68.1 million international tourists visited the Gulf countries, an increase of 42.8 percent compared to the figures recorded in 2019, said GCC-Stat. With that, Gulf countries achieved 52.9 percent of the first strategic objective mentioned in the joint tourism strategy (2023-2030), related to gradually increasing the number of incoming trips to reach 128.7 million tourists.
Total international tourism revenues in Gulf countries also increased by 28.2 percent by the end of 2023 compared to the figures of 2019, reaching $110.4 billion. This contributed to achieving 58.7 percent of the second strategic goal, which is to gradually increase international tourist spending to reach $188 billion.
Read: Saudi Arabia sees 89 percent growth in tourist hospitality facilities in 2024
Sector’s contribution to global GDP hits 2.2 percent
The center also revealed that the sector’s contribution to the global GDP in 2024 amounted to 2.2 percent. An annual report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) revealed last year that a record $1 out of every $10 spent globally in 2024 will be on travel as people briskly book hotels, cruises and flights.
The WTTC estimated the industry’s contribution to global GDP in 2024 would increase 12.1 percent year-over-year to $11.1 trillion, making up 10 percent of global GDP. This represents about a 7.5 percent increase from the previous record set in 2019.
Travel spending in the U.S., Chinese and German economies is expected to contribute the most to GDP. The sector is expected to support nearly 348 million jobs in 2024, or 13.6 million jobs more than in 2019, the previous record prior to the pandemic.
