Covid: UAE and Saudi residents' appetite for travel grows as borders reopen, survey shows

Dubai - 59% of residents in the UAE and KSA took a domestic or international leisure trip last year, despite the Covid-19 challenge.

Appetite for travel is recovering in the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as a majority of residents plan a vacation in 2021, according to a new survey released on Monday.

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Data from the YouGov survey showed that six in 10 (or 59%) of residents in the UAE and KSA took a domestic or international leisure trip last year, despite the Covid-19 challenge.

In 2021, appetite for travel improved due to vaccination rollouts as well as the reopening of borders by some tourist-friendly countries with more than seven in 10 (or 72%) residents having already travelled or intending to travel this year. This is one of the world’s highest rates among 25 countries where the survey was conducted, according to YouGov.

In both the UAE and the KSA, the intent to travel domestically or within the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region increased from 53 per cent in 2020 to 57 per cent in 2021. However, intent to travel abroad has more than doubled since last year from 11 per cent to 26 per cent.

The YouGov data was collected online among 2,515 respondents in the UAE and the KSA between March 24 and April 1, 2021.

Meanwhile, around a fifth of consumers is unlikely to travel in 2021 — a number which nearly halved since 2020 when it stood at 37 per cent, indicating a recovering appetite for travel among residents.

UAE residents are keener to explore international travel while KSA's are looking at staycations this year.

Among those who have travelled or expect to travel in 2021 in the UAE, visiting family and friends emerged as the biggest motivation to travel this year.