Total
Economic Value of Gulf Tourism Reaches USD 254.7 Billion

Muscat,
27 Sep 2026 (ONA) — The total direct and indirect economic value of the tourism
sector in the GCC countries rose to approximately USD 254.7 billion in 2025,
while the number of tourism-related jobs reached nearly 4.5 million jobs.

The
“Strategic Tourism Ambition in the GCC Countries” report, issued by
the GCC Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat), clarified that the Gulf tourism sector
achieved progress in implementing the targets of the Gulf Strategy for Tourism
2022–2030, with the average progress rate across its six goals reaching
approximately 73.8 percent through 2025.

The
report identified six main goals for the strategy: increasing the number of
inbound trips, direct gross domestic product (GDP) of the travel and tourism
sector, inbound tourist spending, the sector’s share of GDP, domestic tourist
spending, and direct jobs.

The
number of inbound visitors to GCC countries reached 89.9 million visitors in
2025, achieving 69.9 percent of the 2030 target of 128.7 million visitors,
while inbound tourist spending rose to USD 131.9 billion, achieving 70.2
percent of the USD 188 billion target.

Domestic
tourist spending reached USD 42.9 billion, achieving 87.6 percent of the 2030
target of USD 49 billion, while direct GDP of the travel and tourism sector
recorded USD 101.7 billion, representing 69.8 percent of the 2030 target of USD
145.8 billion.

The
contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the GDP of GCC countries rose
to 4.6 percent in 2025, achieving 70.8 percent of the 2030 target of 6.5 percent.

Total
direct jobs in the sector reached 2.2 million jobs, achieving 74.7 percent of
the 2030 target of approximately 2.9 million jobs.

These
indicators reinforced the presence of GCC countries in global tourism, as their
share of total international tourism reached 5 percent and of global tourism
revenues 6.9 percent in 2025.

The
report pointed out that GCC countries occupy the top six positions in the Arab
world in passport strength according to the Henley Passport Index 2026, with a
cumulative improvement in the ranking of Gulf passports.

—Ends/AG