Middle East Asia-Pacific Will Account for 58% of Worldwide Air Passengers by 2040

Latest numbers show that Middle East Asia-Pacific are will account for 58% of global air passengers by 2040

According to Airports Council International, global passenger demand for air travel is expected to double over the next 20-years. Asia-Pacific and Middle East account for about 58 percent of this volume.

This volume is expected to be nearly 300 percent higher than the 505 million passengers they handled in 2019.

Stefano Baronci, ACI Director General for ACI Asia-Pacific, stated that the region should prepare itself for the incoming influx. "The consistent improvement in passenger volumes in the region is a positive indication of a sustained recovery of the industry following prolonged efforts towards rebuilding passenger confidence in air travel."

He stated that restoring international connectivity may take longer than expected and will partly depend on China's decision to reconnect to the World.

“The macroeconomic headwinds, less acute in Asia than other western regions, should not hamper a process of growth, subject to continue to maintain the freedom to travel without restrictions.”

“All the stakeholders engaged in the aviation ecosystem must prepare to the surge in traffic,” said the ACI director general.

The Middle East is a great place to travel. An aircraft flying from this crossroads can reach most of Asia, Africa, and Europe in just eight hours.

The Kingdom's Vision 2030 includes tourism as one of its pillars. It is expected to help diversify the economy, attract investments, increase income sources, and provide employment opportunities for citizens. Plans to promote the sector are causing rapid growth.

The World Tourism Organization ranked Saudi Arabia at the top of the Group 20 countries in terms of flow ratings for international tourists during the first seven months of 2022.

Although the report was not specific about the number of tourists who visited the Kingdom, it claimed that the sector experienced a growth rate in the first half of 2022.

The event was attended by Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia's Tourism Minister. He stated that the increase in tourist inflow is consistent with Saudi Arabia's economic diversification policies. This aims to increase the country's contribution to its gross domestic product as described in Vision 2030.

Al-Khateeb called Saudi Arabia one the fastest-growing tourism markets. He said that the Kingdom's sector is growing at 14 percent per year compared to pre-coronavirus period.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, 450,000 tourist visas had been issued. The Kingdom's Tourism Authority launched the program in 2019 and targeted 49 countries. It also facilitated electronic access to tourist visas or through entry points into the Kingdom, subject to specific regulatory controls.

Al-Khateeb stated that Saudi Arabia had allocated $100 million for training 100,000 people in the sustainability and tourism sector.

He said that 90 hotels had been opened in the Kingdom as part of the Kingdom's tourism strategy. More hotels will soon be open, with 70% being funded by private sector.

Al-Khateeb told AFP in June that the Kingdom hopes to attract 12,000,000 foreign tourists in 2022. This is in addition to the 4 million tourists who visited Saudi Arabia 2021.

 

Source: breakingtravelnews.com