Muscat: The Gulf tourism sector continued to expand in 2025, with GCC countries making notable progress towards the targets set under the Gulf Tourism Strategy 2022–2030.
According to the Tourism Strategic Ambition in the GCC Countries report issued by the Gulf Statistical Center, the average progress rate across the strategy’s six key objectives reached around 73.8 per cent by the end of 2025.
The strategy focuses on six main targets: increasing inbound tourist arrivals, raising the direct GDP contribution of travel and tourism, boosting inbound tourist spending, increasing the sector’s share of GDP, expanding domestic tourism spending and creating more direct jobs.
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The number of visitors arriving in GCC countries reached 89.9 million in 2025, representing 69.9 per cent of the 2030 target of 128.7 million visitors.
Spending by inbound tourists climbed to $131.9 billion, achieving 70.2 per cent of the 2030 target of $188 billion.
Domestic tourism spending reached $42.9 billion, equivalent to 87.6 per cent of the 2030 target of $49 billion.
Meanwhile, the direct GDP of the travel and tourism sector stood at $101.7 billion, representing 69.8 per cent of the 2030 target of $145.8 billion.
The contribution of travel and tourism to the overall GDP of GCC countries increased to 4.6 per cent in 2025, reaching 70.8 per cent of the 2030 target of 6.5 per cent.
The number of direct jobs in the sector reached 2.2 million, equivalent to 74.7 per cent of the 2030 target of around 2.9 million jobs. Overall, direct and indirect tourism-related employment stood at approximately 4.5 million jobs.
The report said these indicators have strengthened the GCC’s position in global tourism, with the region accounting for 5 per cent of total international tourism and 6.9 per cent of global tourism revenues in 2025.
It also highlighted the growing strength of Gulf passports, noting that GCC countries occupied the top six positions in the Arab world in the Henley Passport Index 2026, supported by a cumulative improvement in the global rankings of Gulf passports.
