Middle Eastern destinations still on the way to recovery

DUBAI – Mabrian Technologies, a leading tourism intelligence company, has analyzed data for the main destinations in the Middle East in view of its participation in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) fair that is being held this week in Dubai.

To this end Mabrian has looked at connectivity data for the top nine destinations in the Middle East (Cairo, Tel Aviv, Jeddah, Medina, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Doha) and the main European destinations that have traditionally been markets of origin for these Middle Eastern cities (Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Greece and Switzerland).

The results show that the main destinations in the Middle East are having a challenging time recovering their connectivity volumes from  prior to the pandemic. Of the nine destinations analyzed, only two are at 2019 levels or have improved their connectivity: Cairo and Riyadh. Meanwhile Medina is the city that is furthest from its 2019 figures. 

Right now Dubai, Doha, Jeddah and Riyadh are the best connected cities in the Middle East, adding between the four more than 38 million incoming places for the next three months – or 70% of all places scheduled for the nine cities analyzed (54.4 million places).

For its part, the main European markets of origin for destinations in the Middle East are the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. Among the European markets, only Austria shows better connectivity with the Middle East than in 2019 and both the United Kingdom and Germany are still 20% below 2019 figures.

Regarding accommodation, the analysis of the average prices of 1,141 hotels of all categories in these cities for the next month shows a relevant price increase. Prices have risenon average more than 20%, reaching increases of 80% in some specific cases. The cities with the most expensive accommodation are Medina, Dubai and Tel Aviv, where the average prices per night are between  €136 and €168.

Carlos Cendra, Sales & Marketing Director of Mabrian, comments “despite the fact that this study reveals that in the Middle East the rate of recovery is not the same as in other regions, the short-term prospects are good if the current dynamic continues – as we are seeing and commenting during this Arabian Travel Market. It must be taken into account that some of the important markets for this region, such as China, have not yet recovered their pre-pandemic demand.”