Gulf must coordinate on tourism

New report calls for regional collaboration on visas, regulations and air control.

Gulf countries must coordinate their tourism strategies, in order to fulfil their potential to become the world’s biggest travel hub by 2025, according to a new report by Amadeus.

The report entitled Securing the Prize for the Middle East warned the region’s travel sector of “complacency” and of the risks posed by a lack of pan-regional policies in regulation, investment and business operation.

“The aim of becoming the world’s dominant travel hub by 2025 is within reach, but obstacles remain, the chief one being complacency,” said Antoine Medawar, vice president, Middle East and North Africa, Amadeus.

“We need to have some collaboration between different countries and need to make sure we are not only serving national interests,” he added.

The report calls for increased integration and transparency, including the creation of a common regulatory framework across the region covering visas, immigration and air control.

A call for greater financial transparency is also made, particularly the need for airlines to show their independence from government subsidy.

“A number of non-Middle Eastern airlines concerned about the effect of growing UAE carriers on their businesses have accused some of these carriers of receiving hidden state subsidies, including reduced borrowing costs,” says the report.

“The impression is that UAE carriers are maintaining compromised relationships with their national airport and aviation authorities, wholly state-owned entities that share the same government owner as the airline. The accused carriers argue that they are not in a privileged position.”

According to the report, the number of tourists travelling into the Middle East is projected to increase to 136 million by 2020, compared with 54 million in 2008.

Religious tourism is likely to be a major new factor with Saudi Arabia generating more than US$7 billion in 2009 from visitors to Muslim pilgrimage sites and projecting visitor numbers to grow from over 12 million in 2009 to 15 million in 2013. The emergence of a new range of Low Cost Carriers will also support this trend.