27-05-2025
International tourist arrivals up 5% in Q1, 2025, 1% in Middle East
Over 300 million tourists travelled internationally in the first three months of 2025, about 14 million more than in the same months of 2024, according to the May 2025 World Tourism Barometer from UN Tourism.
That represented a 5 percent % rise on last year and is 3% more than in the pre-pandemic year 2019. The robust performance came despite the sector facing a range of geopolitical and trade tensions, as well as high inflation in travel and tourism services.
UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: 'In every global region, tourism stands out as a major services sector, supporting millions of jobs and businesses of all sizes. The continued good performance in international arrivals combined with stronger visitor spending in many destinations highlights the resilience of the sector in the face of numerous challenges and is good news for economies and workers everywhere.'
The Middle East recorded 1% growth compared to 2024, a more modest increase following the extraordinary performance in recent years. However, arrivals stood 44 percent above pre-pandemic levels this first quarter of the year.
The latest UN Tourism Confidence Index reflects cautious optimism for the period May-August 2025. Some 45 percent of Panel experts point to better (40 percent) or much better (5 percent) prospects for these 4 months, while 33 percent foresee similar performance to that in the same period of 2024. Some 22 percent expect tourism performance to be worse.
Experts highlighted the uncertainty and unpredictability derived from trade tariffs and their potential impact on travel sentiment.
Revised data shows that total export revenues from international tourism (receipts and passenger transport) grew by 11% (real terms) to reach a record USD 2.0 trillion in 2024, about 15% above pre-pandemic levels. This represents about 6% of the world's total exports of goods and services and 23% of global trade in services.
According to IATA, international air travel demand grew 8 percent in January-March 2025 versus Q1 2024, while international air capacity was up 7%.
Global occupancy rates in accommodation establishments reached 64 percent in March, about the same level as in March 2024 (65%).
It may be noted that Oman's airports, by the end of March 2025, reached approximately 3,541,038 passengers, compared to 3,840,354 passengers by the end of March 2024, according to preliminary data issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information.
The number of passengers traveling through Muscat International Airport by the end of March 2025 reached 3,183,817 passengers, compared to 3,482,325 passengers during the same period in 2024, recording a decrease of 8.6 percent.
