• International travel in Saudi Arabia set to reopen from Jan. 1

Arab News

DUBAI: Nearly half of those surveyed in a recent poll in Saudi Arabia said they intend to travel internationally in 2021.

The “Global Holiday Intent” survey, conducted by YouGov on behalf of Reed Travel Exhibitions – organizer of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) exhibition in Dubai – found that 48 percent of those surveyed in the UAE and 46 percent of those in Saudi Arabia said they intend to travel internationally once restrictions are lifted in 2021.

The poll was conducted during October and November 2020, before the announcement of breakthroughs in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Nearly half of those polled confirmed that they intended to travel in 2021, and once vaccines have been rolled out around the world those numbers can only increase,” said Danielle Curtis, exhibition director at ATM.

“In terms of outbound travel, many expatriates will be looking for a relaxing holiday or hoping to travel home to see family and friends,” she added.

“In terms of inbound travel, it was welcome news that almost a third of Germans polled said they intended to travel internationally. Germany is one of the largest European feeder markets to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), with 1.8 million overnight stays in 2018. Indeed, over 316,000 Germans visited Dubai between January and June 2019.”

All flights into, out of and within Saudi Arabia were grounded in March this year as part of policies to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Kingdom.

While international flights will not fully resume until January 2021, domestic flights restarted at the end of May.

The ATM exhibition will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on May 16-19, 2021.