(MENAFN- Wego) Dubai, UAE: 6 May 2024: Wego, the largest online travel marketplace and the number 1 travel App for flight bookings and searches in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), today revealed the relative popularity of global destinations with Middle East travelers. Wego users search for tens of millions of trips each quarter and it’s this flight and hotel data that has been analyzed to determine the relative destination rankings. The leaderboard announced today covers the first four months of 2024.
Global Destination Trends
Egypt and KSA retain their respective #1 and #2 positions as the top destination for international travel for MENA travelers in 2024.
"We are excited to see Egypt emerge as the leading destination for travelers in the MENA region during Q1 2024. According to Wego's data, Egypt stands out as a favored choice among travelers seeking unique cultural experiences and diverse attractions. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom retains its position as the preferred European destination for Middle Eastern travelers. At Wego, we are committed to facilitating connections between travelers and the finest experiences each country has to offer. We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts with partners to showcase the distinct tourism offerings of these destinations," stated Mamoun Hmedan, Chief Business Officer at Wego.
Rounding up the top three are Egypt and India. Both countries are major source markets for foreign talent and labor for the Gulf region and have consistently held the top spots for international air travel. Going as far back as 2014, Egypt has consistently been either #1 or #2 and India has invariably taken the #3 spots since 2016.
As is usually the case, we saw more movements in the bottom half of the top 10 where Pakistan has been consistently gaining traction scoring the largest gain of two spots.
Outside the top 20, Russia jumped +9 spots reaching 26th spot globally and #5 in Europe & CIS.
Top 50 Destinations Globally for Middle East Travellers
Rank '24 YTD Country Δ vs
'23 Region Rank '24 YTD Country Δ vs
'23 Region
1 Egypt ⇔ 0 MENA 26 Russia ➚ 9 Europe & CIS
2 Saudi Arabia ⇔ 0 MENA 27 China ➘ -1 Asia Pacific
3 India ⇔ 0 India Sub 28 France ➘ -1 Europe & CIS
4 UAE ⇔ 0 MENA 29 Iraq ➘ -1 MENA
5 Pakistan ➚ 2 India Sub 30 Georgia ➚ 2 Europe & CIS
6 Kuwait ➘ -1 MENA 31 Spain ➘ -1 Europe & CIS
7 Turkey ➘ -1 MENA 32 Japan ➘ -1 Asia Pacific
8 Jordan ⇔ 0 MENA 33 Nepal ➚ 1 India Sub
9 Thailand ⇔ 0 Asia Pacific 34 Iran ➘ -1 MENA
10 Qatar ➚ 1 MENA 35 Sri Lanka ➚ 1 India Sub
11 Oman ➚ 1 MENA 36 Austria ➚ 3 Europe & CIS
12 Morocco ➘ -2 MENA 37 Singapore ➚ 3 Asia Pacific
13 United Kingdom ➚ 1 Europe & CIS 38 Algeria ➚ 3 MENA
14 Bangladesh ➚ 5 India Sub 39 Bosnia ➚ 7 Europe & CIS
15 Indonesia ➘ -2 Asia Pacific 40 Netherlands ➘ -3 Europe & CIS
16 Philippines ⇔ 0 Asia Pacific 41 Syria ➚ 1 MENA
17 Bahrain ➚ 1 MENA 42 Vietnam ➚ 6 Asia Pacific
18 United States ➘ -3 Americas 43 Australia ➘ -5 Asia Pacific
19 Lebanon ➘ -2 MENA 44 Poland ➚ 7 Europe & CIS
20 Italy ➚ 4 Europe & CIS 45 Switzerland ➚ 2 Europe & CIS
21 Tunisia ➚ 2 MENA 46 South Korea ➘ -2 Asia Pacific
22 Malaysia ⇔ 0 Asia Pacific 47 Greece ➘ -2 Europe & CIS
23 Azerbaijan ➚ 6 Europe & CIS 48 Ethiopia ➚ 1 Africa
24 Germany ➘ -3 Europe & CIS 49 Maldives ➘ -6 India Sub
25 Canada ⇔ 0 Americas 50 Kenya ⇔ 0 Africa
Regional Rivalries
Middle East Destinations
Among the Middle East destinations, the top three- Egypt, KSA, UAE kept their places from 2023. Egypt and KSA in particular have inevitably been top two destinations since Wego started tracking customer trends more than a decade ago.
Jumping two places to make it to the top 4 this year is Pakistan having overtaken Kuwait and Turkey. While the Turkish lira has been gradually depreciating making the country a great destination for bargain tourism, we haven’t quite seen a sudden devaluation of the kind we observed in June 2023 and late 2021 that resulted in a surge of inbound tourism in ‘22 and ‘23. At the same time, the country continues to be a great refuge of the summer heat and we expect it to rise through ranks once again as temperatures start to rise.
Pakistan on the other hand continues to gain ground helped by the improved connectivity with the Middle East combined along with cheaper airfares. In 2024, we saw Pakistan-based low-cost carrier Fly Jinnah start flights to Sharjah and Muscat and Pakistan’s national carrier PIA began flights between Dubai and Skardu.
Other notable movements in the top ten include Qatar and Oman gaining a spot each and moving to #8 and #9 respectively. We saw Qatar enter the top ten for the first time in 2022, the year of the world cup, yet despite the one-time nature of the event, the country has been able to build upon and further grow through the ranks in ‘23 and ‘24 YTD.
European Destinations
The UK has been and continues to be the dominant European destination out of the Middle East occupying the #1 spot for 10 of the last 11 years only dropping the torch during the pandemic. Behind the Kingdom, we see a lot more fluidity with Italy rapidly gaining ground surging from #4 last year to #2 this year.
While Italy is among the most popular tourist countries in the world and has continuously been among the top ten European destinations for Middle East travelers, 2024 is the first year that we see the country crack the top three. In late 2023, we saw a flurry of joint investments between KSA and Italy being announced, shortly followed up by Italian carrier ITA Airways announcing direct flights to Riyadh and Jeddah.
On the other end of the spectrum, 2024 saw a relative decrease in popularity among a host of Eastern European countries- Azerbaijan dropped a spot to Italy to get to #3, Georgia dropped two spots for #6 and Bosnia & Herzegovina lost a spot to round up the top ten, narrowly edging out Netherlands who ended up #11. In the aftermath of COVID, these countries benefited from their proximity to the middle east and more relaxed travel policies with Georgia even overtaking UK for the top spot and Azerbaijan reaching as high as #2. In 2024, we are seeing some of the larger Western European markets gain back some of that share. It’s important to note that while Georgia, Azerbaijan and Bosnia & Herzegovina all lost places in the European destinations’ rankings, all three countries gained positions on the global ranking as European destinations overall gained traction over non-European destinations.
Asia Pacific Destinations
This year we see the top seven Asia Pacific countries keep their ranks with the only change in top ten being Vietnam moving up a spot to overtake South Korea. While Thailand and Indonesia kept their respective #1 and #2 positions, we are seeing Thailand expanding its lead and cementing its top position while Indonesia barely held onto the second spot, narrowly outpacing the Philippines. 2024 marks the third year in a row where Thailand takes the top spot when the pre-COVID perennial top Asian destination, Indonesia, is now trying to avoid falling to #3 spot.
Annual Trends (2023 vs 2024)
Looking at the destinations across the globe, we see a continuation of a general trend from 2023 where closer, regional destinations are gaining positions over more faraway destinations. Among the top destinations, it was countries that are more geographically distanced from the Gulf region such as Morocco, Indonesia, and the US who lost the most spots. Last year, we saw Malaysia, Philippines and USA drop out of the global top 10 a trend that has continued in 2024 as well while Kuwait, Pakistan, and Jordan, who broke into the top ten last year continue to be among the topmost preferred destinations for MENA travelers.
In 2024, we saw Qatar break into top ten for the first time taking the place of Morocco which dropped two notches down to #12.
About Wego
Wego provides award-winning travel search websites and top-ranked mobile apps for travelers living in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions. Wego harnesses powerful yet simple to use technology that automates the process of searching and comparing results from hundreds of airlines, hotels, and online travel agency websites.
Wego presents an unbiased comparison of all travel products and prices offered in the marketplace by merchants, both local and global, and enables shoppers to quickly find the best deal and place to book whether it is from an airline or hotel directly or with a third-party aggregator website.
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