Tag Archives: post world cup

Sojern shares its latest data highlighting that the Middle East continues to build on its strong 2022 travel momentum. With relatively quick bouncebacks from COVID-19 in the UAE, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) seeking to secure its place on the tourist map with an ambitious visitor push, it’s looking like strong travel intent to the region will continue well into 2023. As of February, Sojern sees that 2023 flight searches are up year on year (YoY) globally; 72% from APAC, 48% from EMEA, 36% from US & Canada, 30% from LATAM and 23% from Caribbean. With last year’s FIFA World Cup boosting travel recovery in the region, Sojern looks at the current state of play for travel now that the tournament dust has settled. Demand for Regional Hotels Up on 2019 Levels in Many Middle Eastern Countries Several recent reports highlight that Middle East destinations are leading global travel recovery, in part boosted by Dubai’s 2020 Expo and last year’s World Cup. Sojern’s latest lodging data supports this positive picture and sees that 2023 interest from most origins to the region is high and even above January 2019 levels. Inbound travel demand from African, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Latin American (LATAM) markets continue to grow with KSA showing one of the most marked increases in demand. The country sees a 541% increase in 2023 versus 2019 international lodging searches from Africa, 358% from Europe, 279% from LATAM, 251% from the United States and 2,547% from Canada. This uplift suggests that their tourist ambitions to draw 100 million visitors annually by the end of the decade appear to be off to a strong start. Qatar continues to ride the World Cup …

Read More »