By Staff Reporter
The tourism economy across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reached an estimated $254.7 billion in 2025, as the region continued to make strong progress towards the targets of the Gulf Tourism Strategy 2022–2030.
A new report by the GCC Statistical Centre found that the GCC has achieved an average of 73.8 percent of the strategy’s targets, highlighting the growing importance of tourism to the region’s economies.
The report, titled Strategic Tourism Ambition in the GCC Countries, examines the sector’s economic performance, resilience to geopolitical tensions, recovery patterns and long-term outlook through 2035.
Tourism supported approximately 4.5 million jobs across the GCC in 2025, while its global economic contribution stood at about $11.7 trillion, supporting roughly 371 million jobs worldwide.
The GCC strategy measures progress across six key areas: international visitor arrivals, direct tourism GDP, inbound tourist spending, tourism’s contribution to GDP, domestic tourism spending and direct employment.
By 2030, the GCC aims to attract 128.7 million international visitors, generate $145.8 billion in direct travel and tourism GDP, reach $188 billion in inbound tourism spending, raise tourism’s direct GDP contribution to 6.5 percent, increase domestic tourism spending to $49 billion and create around 2.9 million direct jobs.
International visitor arrivals reached 89.9 million in 2025, representing 69.9 percent of the 2030 target. Arrivals increased by 3.1 percent compared with 2024.
Inbound tourist spending also recorded significant growth, rising 9.7 percent year on year to $131.9 billion, equivalent to 70.2 percent of the 2030 target.
Domestic tourism recorded the strongest progress against its target. Spending reached $42.9 billion, or 87.6 percent of the 2030 goal, after increasing 6.2 percent during the year.
Direct travel and tourism GDP rose by 8.8 percent to $101.7 billion, reaching 69.8 percent of the 2030 target.
Tourism’s direct contribution to overall GCC GDP increased to 4.6 percent, equivalent to 70.8 percent of the 6.5 percent target.
The sector also continued to expand its workforce. Direct tourism employment reached approximately 2.2 million jobs, representing 74.7 percent of the 2030 target of around 2.9 million positions.
The GCC’s growing tourism industry has also strengthened its position in the global market. The region accounted for approximately 5 percent of international tourism activity and 6.9 percent of global tourism receipts in 2025.
Travel accessibility has also improved across the Gulf. According to the Henley Passport Index 2026, GCC countries occupy the top six positions among Arab countries for passport strength.
The GCC Statistical Centre said the findings demonstrate continued progress in developing tourism as a major contributor to economic diversification and regional growth.
News Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)
