ME Travel Sector’s Contribution to GDP Plummets 51 Percent In 2020

ME Travel Sector’s Contribution to GDP Plummets 51 Percent In 2020

While domestic spending declined by 42.8%, international receipts saw a much steeper fall of 70.3%, added the new annual Economic Trends Report from WTTC.

The region, which was highly reliant on international tourism in 2019, saw international spending as a share of total Travel & Tourism spending decline from 62% of the total in 2019 to 46% in 2020.

Meanwhile, domestic spending grew in share, from 38% of the total in 2019 to 54% in 2020. In 2020, travel & tourism employment fell by 17.4%, equating to 1.2 million jobs. In Saudi Arabia, employment decreased by 10.1%, while the drop in the Kingdom's domestic travel spending was 30.9%.