Gulf tourism urged: Improve your product
Gulf countries need to work harder on coordinating and marketing their tourism offer, according to a report released this week.
Consultants Booz & Co say too many visitors are disappointed and won’t return to the region.
Led by Dubai, countries such as Abu Dhabi, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been investing heavily in tourism infrastructure.
Yet, in a report carried by the Wall Street Journal, Booz & Co warns: "An insufficient assortment of tourism offerings, spotty marketing, and sporadic investment in the sector have limited tourism’s contribution to these economies."
The report adds that the countries must improve their tourism products, government institutions and "address the system-level challenges that lead to tourists being disappointed with their visit and not returning".
For one, Booz says, visas are not easy for some nationalities to come by in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, while the scarcity of World Heritage sites is also cited as a major disadvantage for Gulf countries.
Oman has four, but the rest of the countries in the region have two or less. By comparison: Egypt has 7, Turkey has 11, Italy has 49, and the UK 28.
Gulf countries also have a limited variety of tourism products, Booz says, as each country concentrates only on a niche.
However, analysts agree that given the unrest in traditional tourist destinations in the Middle East, such as Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, the safe-haven status of the Gulf countries offers a big opportunity, especially if each market can become popular in its own right.
Ian Jarrett
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