Asia Pacific national tourism organizations (NTOs) representatives in the Gulf claim that Gulf travelers are looking more to the Asia-Pacific as against Arab tourist attractions like Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, especially for family holidays, according to a report by Bangkok Post.
Members of the NTOs are scrambling to get their share of the Gulf outbound market in anticipation of the peak summer season for travel from this lucrative part of the world, according to the daily, which added that there is no indication that the turmoil in the Middle East has affected outbound travel from the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The travel agencies believe that the Gulf market holds out great promise because it booms in what is traditionally the tourism low season for nearly the entire Asia-Pacific region, said the paper.
John Felix, manager of Emirates Holidays, was quoted by the paper as saying that “the division of Emirates Airlines generated 230 million dirhams ($62 million) in sales in the financial year ending March 31st, up from 194 million Dirhams the previous year, with major growth coming from Asia-Pacific destinations such as Australia” – Albawaba.com
