The global travel industry has rebounded rapidly from the 2009 financial crises and is poised for a period of sustained growth over the next decade, specifically in the Middle East, according to findings from Amadeus’ latest global report – ‘Shaping the Future of Travel - Macro trends driving industry growth over the next decade’.
Globally, overnight visitor flows are expected to grow at 5.4 per cent per annum over the next decade, significantly faster than GDP growth at 3.4 per cent. Subsequently, the Middle East and Africa region is expected to witness even higher growth, at an annual rate of 11.9 per cent, a few percentage points above the 8.4 per cent growth registered over the previous 10-year period.Written by Oxford Economics, the Amadeus-commissioned report forecasts a 7.6 per cent growth in outbound travel spend for the Middle East and Africa over the next 10 years, far ahead of Europe and the Americas but behind the substantial 17.9 per cent growth for Asia. The Gulf region, due to its geographical position and the ambitious growth plans by its main international airlines is set to benefit from this ‘Asian effect’. In the competition for long-haul transfer passenger traffic, hub airports in the Middle East are thus far winning the race.While the volume of international transfer long-haul Origin & Destination passengers across major European and North American hubs have been growing relatively modestly over the past five years (8 per cent in North America and 10 per cent in Europe), the number of such transfer passengers flying through the Middle East hubs has been increasing at the rapid rate of 79 per cent over the same period.The under-15 population in the region, which represents about 21 per cent of the total, has been highlighted as a prominent influencer in the future of travel in the region. As this segment of the population matures, a new generation called ‘first-time’ or ‘coming-of-age’ travellers will join the global travel pool looking for new experiences. Like their counterparts across the world, their travel related behaviour will be heavily influenced by technology and social media.