The poll, which was conducted during October and November 2020, asked recipients if they were planning to make an international trip within the next 12 months and 48 percent of those polled in the UAE confirmed their intent to travel, with Saudi Arabia coming in a close second with 46 percent of respondents confirming their intent to travel abroad in 2021.
Danielle Curtis, exhibition director ME, Arabian Travel Market, which will take place live at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) May 16-19, 2021, said, “This survey was conducted before the most recent announcements about COVID-19 vaccines, so in many respects this is even better news for the Middle East’s aviation sector. 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. In terms of outbound travel, many expatriates will be looking for a relaxing holiday or hoping to travel home to see family and friends.”
Curtis also indicated that in terms of inbound travel, the news was welcomed that almost a third of Germans polled said that they intended to travel internationally – Germany is one of largest European feeder markets to the GCC, 1,8 million overnight stays in 2018. Over 316,000 Germans visited Dubai between January and June 2019.
Denmark, Norway and Germany rounded off the top five places with 36 percent, 34 percent and 31 percent respectively, with intent to travel overseas, while Japan at 5 percent, China at 10 percent and US on 14 percent were the least likely to travel internationally in 2021.
In terms of domestic travel, Thailand came out on top with 68 percent of residents confirming their intent to travel, with Indonesia (61 percent), Australia (59 percent), China (55 percent) and Malaysia (54 percent) making up the rest of the top five.
Singapore was at the bottom of the domestic travel poll with just 14 percent of respondents saying that they intended to travel in 2021, followed by Canada (27 percent), the UAE (35 percent), KSA (37 percent) and Germany (40 percent).
