In recent days tourism plays a role of driving force in social and economic development through the increase of export revenues, the creation of jobs and infrastructure development. As an internationally traded service, inbound tourism has become one of the world’s major traded categories. The overall export income generated by inbound tourism exceeded 1.2 trillion USD in 2011. Tourism exports account for about 30%of the world’s exports of commercial services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. The tourism sector is regarded as one of the most important economic activities in the six GCC countries also, which include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. It is well known that the GCC region is the world’s largest oil exporting area. However their governments have been promoting the economic diversification policies to reduce reliance on the oil reserves, focusing on non-oil sectors such as travel & tourism, hospitality, healthcare, education, MICE, industrial manufacturing, and construction. The Middle East region witnessed a fast growth in the tourism sector during a few decades. Outbound travel form the Middle East has increased from 8.2 million in 1990 to 36.2 million in 2010. And within the Middle East,the GCC countries are considered the most important travel source market.Today the GCC countries constitute about 60% of all outbound travel and about 75% of total international tourism expenditure from the Middle East. In terms of inbound travel too, the GCC countries have seen fast growth over the past decade. In 2011, tourist arrivals to the GCC region grew by 12.3% since 2009 to 37.47 million. In other words, tourist arrivals to the GCC region has grown at a CACR of 8.5% over 2002-2011, significantly above the global growth of 3.7%. The increase in tourism activities in the GCC region can be ascribed to the initiatives undertaken by each government. The GCC governments are now competing one another to transform themselves from oil exporting countries to tourist, trading, shopping and leisure hubs. The main factors that have contributed significantly to the growth of tourist sector in the GCC region are religious tourism, shopping festivals, MICE(Meeting and Exhibition), sports tourism, medical tourism, etc.

In recent days tourism plays a role of driving force in social and economic development through the increase of export revenues, the creation of jobs and infrastructure development. As an internationally traded service, inbound tourism has become one of the world’s major traded categories. The overall export income generated by inbound tourism exceeded 1.2 trillion USD in 2011. Tourism exports account for about 30%of the world’s exports of commercial services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. The tourism sector is regarded as one of the most important economic activities in the six GCC countries also, which include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. It is well known that the GCC region is the world’s largest oil exporting area. However their governments have been promoting the economic diversification policies to reduce reliance on the oil reserves, focusing on non-oil sectors such as travel & tourism, hospitality, healthcare, education, MICE, industrial manufacturing, and construction. The Middle East region witnessed a fast growth in the tourism sector during a few decades. Outbound travel form the Middle East has increased from 8.2 million in 1990 to 36.2 million in 2010. And within the Middle East,the GCC countries are considered the most important travel source market.Today the GCC countries constitute about 60% of all outbound travel and about 75% of total international tourism expenditure from the Middle East. In terms of inbound travel too, the GCC countries have seen fast growth over the past decade. In 2011, tourist arrivals to the GCC region grew by 12.3% since 2009 to 37.47 million. In other words, tourist arrivals to the GCC region has grown at a CACR of 8.5% over 2002-2011, significantly above the global growth of 3.7%. The increase in tourism activities in the GCC region can be ascribed to the initiatives undertaken by each government. The GCC governments are now competing one another to transform themselves from oil exporting countries to tourist, trading, shopping and leisure hubs. The main factors that have contributed significantly to the growth of tourist sector in the GCC region are religious tourism, shopping festivals, MICE(Meeting and Exhibition), sports tourism, medical tourism, etc.

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GCC, Travel, Consumption, Religious Tourism, MICE, Medical Tourism, Tourism Policy