Wego data reveals KSA, Egypt, India as top 2025 destinations
Rounding up the top three is India. Having recently become the most populous country in the world, the highest number of Indians living outside India is in the Middle East, so it is no surprise that the country is the top non-Middle East country.
Recent developments that further cement India's strong position include India's largest carrier, IndiGo, launching three new flight routes to Abu Dhabi; Mumbai-based Akasa Air starting another two flight routes to Abu Dhabi; and Royal Jordanian announcing public plans to start flying to Delhi and Mumbai.
Continuing a trend Wego reported on last year, Pakistan continues to gain ground, boosted by the success of 'Salam Pakistan' campaign, the stable economic climate, and the proliferation of online booking platforms in the country. In addition to the growing demand, there has been an increase in the supply of both flight routes and airline carriers- in Q1 alone, flynas, flyadeal, and AirAsia X all commenced direct flights to Karachi. Additionally, Karachi-based Fly Jinnah commenced international flights in 2024.
Other notable country movements include Syria's dramatic rise of 30 spots to make the top 10. Syria restarted international flights from Damascus in January and from Aleppo in March, with Qatar Airways reporting 90% seat occupancy on Doha-Damascus flights. In April, direct flights to the UAE resumed as well. With these developments, Wego expects Syria to gain further positions inside the top 10 in Q2 and the rest of 2025.
Mamoun Hmidan, Chief Business Officer at Wego, commented: 'Egypt and Saudi Arabia have consistently held leading positions on our platform, a reflection of their strong outbound and domestic travel appetite, well-established tourism infrastructure, and year-round demand. This upward trend has remained steady for over a decade, supported by increased connectivity and evolving traveller preferences. India, securing third place, underscores the influence of its vast and growing diaspora, especially within the Middle East.'
Regional Dynamics
US
Given the flurry of recent border and trade developments in the US, Wego decided to add a section focused on the US alone.
Historically, the US (along with the UK) has been the most favourite travel destination for Middle East Travellers among the so-called Western world. This was true in the years before the pandemic, as well as in 2022 and most of 2023. With the current situations, we saw a meaningful decrease in travel interest, with levels yet to recover to pre-Oct'2023 levels.
Since late 2024, Wego has seen a further reduction in travel interest to the US due to stricter visa and border entry policies. The chart below shows the change in four-week search interest for travel to the US versus a year prior. From a peak of +32% in early November, Wego has seen a continued decrease in YoY growth, with values turning negative since mid-February. The last weekly available reading is also the lowest, with a 9% YoY drop in search interest.
Diving deeper into search traffic by city destination, Wego sees that Los Angeles experienced the earliest and most significant drop due to the Southern California wildfires in January. At its lowest, search interest to the city of angels dropped by as much as 26% versus the same period in 2024. Though LA remains below other US cities, it has since closed the gap and is nearing the levels of the other major US cities. The other outlier has been Miami, Florida, which has been more resistant to the general decrease in travel interest. Miami remains the only major US city with a positive YoY change and experienced a strong surge in interest in December and January.
European Destinations
The UK remains the leading European destination from the Middle East, occupying the top spot for 10 of the last 11 years and only dropping the torch during the pandemic. While the British reign over other European destinations remains intact, the UK has lost six combined spots in the overall ranking versus 2023. A likely contributor has been the Air Passenger Duty (APD), which was enforced in 2024 and effectively raised the cost of an economy flight from the UK to the Middle East by 87 British Pounds or roughly USD 115. A cost that airlines largely passed onto consumers, which made travelling between the UK and the Middle East a bit more expensive.
In 2025, Wego again sees Italy's continued rise in European rankings, overtaking Azerbaijan for the number two spot. Some of this dynamic is seasonal, with Italy surpassing Azerbaijan in Q1 and Q4 last year while Azerbaijan got the edge during summer. It will also be interesting to see if the same dynamic repeats in 2025.
On the other end of the spectrum, in 2025, a host of Eastern European countries lost positions to Western European powerhouses. In addition to Azerbaijan dropping a spot to Italy, Georgia dropped two spots to Germany and France, while Bosnia & Herzegovina lost its place in the European top 10 due to the Netherlands breaking into the top 10
Asia Pacific Destinations
This year, Wego saw the Philippines and Indonesia swap positions once again, with the other top 10 Asia Pacific countries keeping their ranks. 2025 marks the fourth year in a row that Thailand takes the top spot with a notable boost from tourists coming from KSA. Part of the reason is the streamlined visa policies allowing tourists to stay up to 60 days and faster entry procedures that minimise hassle. On the government front, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has successfully promoted the country in key industry forums such as the Saudi Travel Market, while Saudi Airlines launched direct flights from Jeddah and Riyadh to Phuket
Long-Term Trends (2014 to 2025)
Looking at the global top 10 over the past 11 years, Wego sees a continuation of a general trend where closer, regional destinations are gaining positions over more faraway destinations, thanks not only to geographic proximity but also to improving connectivity, easier visa policies, and streamlined border entry processes. Meanwhile, some Western countries have leaned towards introducing additional guidelines, restrictions, and fees, making travel more cumbersome and expensive. -TradeArabia News Service
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