The Middle East is the only region in the world to have surpassed pre-pandemic international tourist arrivals so far this year, bucking the slower travel recovery in other parts of the globe.

Between January and July 2023, there were 20.3% more international arrivals in the Middle East, compared with the same period in 2019, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Europe, the world’s largest destination region, is still only at 91% of its pre-pandemic levels. While Africa has had a similar recovery followed by the Americas, tourists arrivals in Asia and the Pacific remain 39.3% below their pre-crisis levels.

An estimated 700 million tourists travelled internationally in the first seven months of 2023, about 43% more than in the same months of 2022, according to UNWTO. However, this is still 16% fewer than the same period of 2019 – the year in which an all-time high of 1.46 billion people travelled internationally across the globe. 

The strong rebound in the Middle East was led by a number of popular destinations, including 2022 Fifa World Cup host Qatar, where arrivals almost doubled. A significant jump in arrivals was seen in Saudi Arabia (58%) and Jordan (23%). 

In the first quarter of 2023, Saudi Arabia experienced the largest increase of international tourism receipts (151%) compared with the same period of 2019, according to UNWTO figures. A number of other major destinations have seen their tourism receipts exceed pre-pandemic levels, including Turkey (66%), the UK (42% in Q1), Portugal (40% to June) and India (30% in Q1).

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On the flipside, Asia’s laggard tourism recovery in 2023 has been hampered by a slow reopening and economic recovery in China, source of the world’s largest outbound tourism before the pandemic. 

Domestic tourism in China has rebounded strongly, but Chinese mainland travellers have been slower to go abroad amid visa backlogs, a lack of international flights and security concerns.

The global recovery in tourist arrivals is also reflected in other industry indicators. In the first six months of 2023, international air capacity and passenger demand have both recovered to about 84% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the International Air Transport Association. 

Hotel bookings doubled between January and August 2023, compared to the same months of 2022, according to travel marketing platform Sojern. Almost 90% of global hotel markets had experienced growth in the revenue generated per available room so far in 2023 compared with 2019, according to STR, a hotel data provider.