Spain doubles the number of tourists from the Persian Gulf

The tourism relationship between Spain and the markets of the Persian Gulf is increasingly close. The number of visitors to our country from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait doubled in 2024 compared to pre-pandemic figures, reaching 515,000 tourists, which represents "a remarkable growth in recent years and an increase of 18% compared to 2023", as noted by the experts participating in the Turespaña session. By country, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stood out, with more than 200,000 tourists each, followed by Kuwait with around 49,000, Qatar with 42,000, Oman with 13,000, and Bahrain with 9,000.

In the opinion of the Turespaña experts, these are "countries with great potential and a high standard of living", with spending per tourist standing at around 2,500 euros per trip, and average spend per day and visitor rising to around 300 euros. "This is a tourist who spends more than the average traveller coming to Spain and who, moreover, tends to stay for a long period, with an average time of around seven days". In this regard, the experts also highlighted "the good air connectivity with these countries".

Exclusive and personalised experiences

As for the general profile of these tourists, a key aspect is that "they come from Islamic countries, have large families and attach great importance to tradition and family". In addition, "they appreciate luxury, exclusive and personalised experiences, as well as buying high-end brands; and during the summer they look for European destinations with more moderate temperatures and climates than in their countries, where temperatures exceed 40 degrees."

Saudi Arabia is the tourist market that has grown the most for Spain with respect to 2019, "For travellers from that country, luxury and religious tourism is very important; and during the summer they like to travel a lot, within Europe, to the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland in search of luxury, cultural experiences and leisure."

The United Arab Emirates "has a greater tradition of foreign trips and travel throughout the year to European and Asian destinations." This is "a high-spending tourist, who likes luxury and shopping; in addition, there are many companies and groups that organise MICE trips." 

As for Kuwait, it is a market that "likes to travel to Europe, especially to the UK and especially to London, and also around the countries in the region."

Qatar has a very similar profile. "As they have a higher standard of living, they travel more to destinations that offer luxury and unique experiences, and in the summer they particularly like Switzerland, France and Italy."

Oman, on the other hand, "is a more traditional country and citizens tend to travel abroad less, or if they do travel, it is almost always to nearby destinations."

While the Bahraini tourist also has "a high standard of living and a significant share of business travel."