THE Middle East’s religious tourism sector – valued at $18 billion per year - can play a decisive role in driving the region’s short term industry revenues, says Kevin J Wright, president, World Religious Travel Association (WRTA).
The Middle East is already the world’s largest driver of religious travel, tourism and hospitality, with the sector fuelling the region’s current annual tourism growth of 11 per cent per annum.
However, Wright insists specialist travel providers need to develop the best possible travel experiences to leverage income from the three billion people around the world who trace their religious roots and faiths to the Middle East.
“Religious tourism is recognised as one of the most resilient markets in the travel industry,” said Wright, who will conduct a seminar entitled The New Era of Religious Tourism at ATM.
“Pilgrimages are not the sole driver of the religious market anymore and people of faith are increasingly seeking greater quality travel experiences across the full spectrum of sub-sectors which drive the industry,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is the market’s primary driver, with the Islamic Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages seeing the Kingdom receive over six million worshipers annually. Here the religious tourism industry generated an estimated $7billion annually. Wright also identified Jordan and Palestine as growth markets.
“Ninety five percent of tourism in Palestine is religion based, while Jordan is targeting tourism revenues of up to $2.4billion, per year, by 2010 – over 60 percent higher than income generated in 2007,”
he said.
Iraq was also emerging as a serious player in the sector. Areas of religious significance, such as Najaf, already welcomes eight million pilgrims a year, but a new airport will increase inbound capacity to over 20 million.