FIFA World Cup tips

Vrbo has recently severed ties with “a large number” of its vacation rental hosts who have cancelled too many guest bookings without valid reasons.

Saudi Arabia will put in its bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. To win it, the kingdom must meet new hosting requirements, including a stellar track record in human rights and a commitment to sustainability.

Hundreds of Moroccan soccer fans desperate to reach Qatar to watch their team become the first from an Arab or African country play in a World Cup semi-final were left stranded on Wednesday as Morocco’s airline scrapped several extra flights.

Dubai received 14.36 million international overnight visitors in 2022, growing 97 percent year-on-year from the 7.28 million tourist arrivals in 2021, according to the latest data published by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. In 2019, the city had welcomed a record 16.73 million international overnight visitors. The strong performance in 2022 features some noteworthy spikes in Dubai’s traditional key markets and strong growth across emerging markets. Dubai remained a first-choice safe travel destination for visitors from the city’s stronghold markets. Western Europe and Gulf regions each accounted for a 21 percent share of arrivals. The Gulf region in particular saw an exponential increase in their share of arrivals from 13 percent in 2021 to 21 percent last year. South Asia contributed 17 percent of total volumes while the Middle East and North Africa region contributed 12 percent, further reinforcing Dubai’s continued appeal to travelers from proximity markets. The Americas accounted for seven percent of arrivals while North Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa each contributed five percent and Australasia accounted for two percent.

The Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions are expected to account for 58 percent of the global air passenger demand in 2040. Aviation market intelligence CAPA — Centre for Aviation has region-wise listed the total numbers of the airport project and the volume of investment include 155 in Middle East worth $209 billion. Airports in the Middle East will need to invest $151 billion in capacity expansion as the global air passenger demand is expected to increase more than two-fold in 2040. With over 110 airports, the Middle East is already among the fastest growing in the world, accounting for 170 million of the global traffic. Close to 19.7 billion passengers are expected to traverse the world’s airports by 2040, according to the Airport Council International and the Middle East airports will handle 1.1 billion passengers by 2040 — a significant increase from 2019’s 405 million. In the United Arab Emirates, the New Sharjah International Airport expansion, with an approximate cost of $517 million, will get completed by the fourth quarter of 2024. Kuwait Airport is expanding its passenger terminal 2 to handle 13 million passengers, at an estimated cost of $4.36 billion. In Qatar, Hamad International Airport Phase 2B’s expansion work on the passenger terminal is expected to commence this year and will enhance passenger capacity to more than 60 million annually. Saudi Arabia is set to build one of the world’s largest airports which will have six parallel runways. The airport will help drive annual passenger traffic to 120 million by 2030 and 185 million by 2050.

China’s Trip.com Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Tourism Authority to promote Saudi Arabia as a tourism destination. As part of the collaboration, Trip.com and Saudi Tourism Authority will launch joint marketing campaigns in several markets to drive awareness and attract tourists to Saudi Arabia through Trip.com, Ctrip, Travix, and other travel companies. These markets include Australia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and UK. In addition, both parties will also embark on several capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiatives in various aspects, including digital payment solutions, sustainability, ticketing, and training. “With Trip.com Group’s market capability and advanced technology, I believe the partnership will encourage and entice more visitors worldwide to Saudi Arabia and further enhance recovery in the global tourism sector,” said Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority. In November last year, Trip.com Group signed an agreement to promote Qatar across the globe as a family-friendly tourism destination, and an agreement with Abu Dhabi was signed in May 2022. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum East, Trip.com’s Chief Operating Officer, Schubert Lou, said old marketing strategies would not work on the new Chinese traveler. Saudi Arabia had earlier said that it aims to attract 3.9 million visitors from China annually by 2030. In 2019, when Saudi Arabia opened to tourism, the maximum number of tourist visas issued were to Chinese tourists. More than 100,000 Chinese tourists visited Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important consideration within the Middle East’s luxury travel sector, especially in the United Arab Emirates where 61 percent of residents say they are willing to pay a premium for more responsible, eco-friendly and sustainable tourism experiences, according to YouGov’s Global Travel and Tourism Whitepaper 2023. One in 10 consumers has stayed in luxury eco-friendly accommodation during the past three years, the whitepaper found. This trend is especially prevalent among high-income travelers, whose sustainable luxury hotel stays have increased by 50 percent during the same period. The United Arab Emirates topped global rankings in terms of the value placed on exploring, with 58 percent of respondents reporting that travel has become more important to them since the Covid-19 pandemic. In terms of luxury travel priorities, a quarter of those living in the country are looking for great entertainment, whereas 19 percent place the biggest emphasis on premium-quality accommodation when booking trips.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, July 21. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

North American destinations are getting ready for the 2026 World Cup, said city officials at the session titled “On the World Stage: Leveraging the 2026 FIFA World Cup Across North America and Beyond” at the Destinations International 2023 Annual Convention.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, July 27. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off in Australia last week and is expected to bring a significant tourism boost to the country. Tourism Australia estimates the 35-match tournament to have an economic benefit worth $385 million.

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