Travel to Middle East set to rocket as FIFA World Cup drives bookings, reports ForwardKeys

QATAR/MIDDLE EAST. Research by ForwardKeys shows that flight bookings to Qatar from the 31 countries also competing in the football FIFA World Cup finals, and from the UAE where many fans are staying during the tournament, are currently ten times the volume of pre-pandemic levels.

The data is based on issued flight tickets including day trips, as of 29 September, for travel to Qatar between 14 November and 24 December, with the benchmark for travel in 2019. The exception is the UAE where the benchmark is 2016, owing to the Qatar diplomatic crisis, which stopped direct flights between the two countries from 2017 to 2021.

Hamad International Airport is preparing for an unprecedented surge in traffic from World Cup visitors

In growth terms, the market which is set to perform the strongest during the World Cup period is the UAE. Currently bookings are ahead by 103 times the volume of 2016. This is followed by Mexico (ahead by 79 times the 2019 volume), Argentina (77x), Spain (53x) and Japan (46x).

ForwardKeys noted that the UAE’s strong growth in flight bookings is explained by a shortage of accommodation in Qatar. Many people, it said, are expected to stay in the UAE and fly over for the day on match days. Currently, day trips account for 4% of all arrivals in Qatar during the World Cup, 85% of which originate in the UAE.

The UAE’s leadership in flight bookings growth is driven by the number of people staying in the country during the World Cup (click to enlarge)

Despite a requirement to present a negative COVID-19 test to enter Qatar, the popularity of the tournament is such that there have been millions of searches online for flights to Qatar in the first nine months of the year.

Some 12% of them are for journeys originating in the UAE, with the same percentage originating from the USA. Next in the flight searches table is Spain (7%), India (7%), the UK (6%) and Germany (6%).

The travel data analyst also noted that the tournament is set to benefit the whole of the Gulf region, as flight bookings to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during the competition are currently +16% ahead of the 2019 number, and for the initial stages of the World Cup +61% ahead.

The UAE and the USA top the flight searches to Qatar table (click to enlarge)

Further analysis from ForwardKeys reveals that many World Cup visitors are travelling to other destinations in the region. For example, the number staying at least two nights in Qatar and going on to stay at least two more nights in another GCC country is 16 times greater than it was before the pandemic in 2019.

Dubai is comfortably the largest beneficiary of this trend, capturing 65% of onward visits. The next most popular onward destination is Abu Dhabi with 14%, which is followed by Jeddah (8%), Muscat (6%) and Madinah (3%).

The most important origin market for these ‘regional tourists’ is the USA, which is responsible for 26% of the total. In second is Canada (10%), followed by the UK (9%), with France, Mexico and Spain next, each with 5%.

World Cup attendance will have a very positive impact on further Middle East travel outside Qatar (click to enlarge)

ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti said: “As global events go, the FIFA World Cup is one of the most attractive drivers of travel there is, so much so that other destinations in the Gulf will benefit, not just the host nation Qatar. In tourism promotion terms, the World Cup will throw a media spotlight on Qatar and help it become a more established destination, and not just a major hub for intercontinental air traffic.

“Normally, just 3% of travel to Doha is destined to stay in the country, and 97% comprises onward connections. However, during the World Cup almost 27% has Qatar as the ultimate destination.

“The UAE will also benefit substantially from the tournament because it has much more hotel accommodation than Qatar, and two global hub airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.”

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