What is a Domestic Tourist? And Why Do Saudi Arabia and the UAE Love Them?

03.10.2024 - 19:11 / skift.com / Josh Corder / Touq Al-Marri

Domestic tourism is relatively new amongst Gulf countries whereby they look to increase the spending of residents in a country by prompting them to visit facilities designed for tourism.

The UAE’s minister of economy this week said he wants the country to achieve a 50-50 split between international and domestic tourism, highlighting the deep pockets of UAE residents and locals.

“In the UAE today, 60% of its tourism is international and 40% is domestic. What is domestic tourism? Those are the nationals living here. We found that there are different products in the UAE for domestic tourists. Domestic tourists are important because they pay, they are high spenders”, said Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, minister of economy at the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai.

In December 2020, the UAE Government launched the “UAE Strategy for Domestic Tourism,” which revealed domestic tourism spending stood at 41 billion Emirati Dirhams (around $11.3 billion). Also in 2020, Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, said he wanted to double the amount of domestic tourism spending in the country.

He stressed that “working as one team in the tourism sector will bring long-term benefits to every part of the UAE and boost our status globally as a single destination that offers rich and diverse experiences.”

The tourism sector as a whole that year generated 71.6 billion Emirati Dirhams (around $19.4 billion).

According to WTTC data, local visitor spending in 2023 reached over 55.5 billion Emirati Dirhams (around $15.12 billion), marking a growth of nearly 40% compared to 2019. Meanwhile, international visitor spending increased by nearly 40% last year, surpassing 2019 levels by 12% to exceed 175 billion Emirati Dirhams (around $47.66 billion).

Al Marri added on stage: “You know UAE tourists are sought after by the West and East? I’ve had discussions with people wanting to bring in more tourists from UAE to Spain, Italy and London.”

“We want to reach 50% domestic tourism. I’m not looking elsewhere, I’m looking in, I’m looking at how to push domestic tourism to 50-50. With school holidays, with public holidays, there’s a lot of spending happening.”

Saudi Arabia too wants to achieve around a 50-50 split but is currently seeing a much larger domestic tourism market than international. The country is aiming for 150 million visits by 2030, with 70 million of them international and the rest domestic. 

Domestic tourists accounted for 75% of visits last year, or 81.9 million people. International tourists spent 141.2 billion Saudi Riyals (about $37.6 billion) last year compared to 114.4 billion Saudi Riyals (about $30.5 billion) by domestic travelers.

Domestic tourism is important for Saudi Arabia as it allows the country to retain