Tag Archives: direct

Speaking with TravelTV Middle East, Turab Saleem – Head of Hospitality – Knight Frank shared that 25million people in the region are somehow one way or another directly or indirectly engaged with travel and tourism sector, He further shared that in the UAE alone around 900,000 jobs are mainly in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector. He shared, “travel and tourism contributes to the revenue across the GCC with UAE  touching 220 billion worth towards the overall economy. The GDP contribution has now gone to 11.7 percent, which historically is one of the highest. Same goes to Saudi. Saudi has achieved milestone which has reached to 444 billion Saudi Riyal in 2023, which is also one of the highest one. And it is 11.7 percent of the total GDP contribution. So which shows how these economies are diversifying and moving towards hospitality and tourism reliance.” He further stated, “1 to 2 jobs out of every 10 jobs belongs to this sector. So this sector is helping in diversification overall in KSA, UAE, and rest of the region. Taking as an example of UAE, jobs around 890,000 to 900,000 jobs are contributed by travel and tourism. In Saudi, the numbers are very high. It’s now reached to 2.5 million of the jobs are from this sector. Regionally, it’s 25 million people in the region are somehow one way or another directly or indirectly engaged with travel and tourism sector.”

Gulf Air recently celebrated the launch of its thrice-a-week direct service to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The celebration took place at Bahrain International Airport, in the presence of the Georgian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, H.E. George Janjgava, along with Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs officials, Bahrain International Airport officials and members of Gulf Air’s executive management team. Commenting on the launch of Gulf Air’s newest destination, Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer, Mr Maher Salman Al Musallam, said, “I am delighted Gulf Air is directly connecting Bahrain and Georgia; and witnessing such a high demand as we commence operations is a positive indication of what is to come. I look forward to seeing passengers from across the GCC and MENA regions fly with us.”