MENA Key Highlights

  • Travel search activity in MENA remains flat at approximately a third of the activity in 2019
  • UAE, KSA and Qatar are making progress on their travel recovery in GCC.  At the current pace of improvement, UAE and KSA might make EU list of safe countries sometime in September
  • Outside GCC, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan are providing positive stories while the resurgence of new cases of coronavirus has caused Morocco and Algeria to lose their safe country status putting their travel recoveries on pause
  • The explosion in Beirut and the ongoing political & economic crisis have dampened travel interest in Lebanon. In Turkey, the depreciating lira might limit local tourism while inbound tourism is only beginning to restart

Wego internal, MENA search activity. 100% equals 2019 average

GCC: Travel Demand

Wego internal, GCC search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

GCC: Top Destinations

Wego internal, GCC search activity by user location.

Travel Demand from KSA

Wego internal, KSA search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Overall search interest has started to come back staying consistently over 30% of 2019 levels
  • Domestic travel for both flights and hotels continues to drive the rebound
    • Staycations are proving popular and interest in domestic hotels is exceeding 2019 levels
    • Domestic flights are also continuously improving nearing 70% of last year’s levels
  • Interest in international travel is stagnant at around 20% due to a mix of travel restrictions and health fears
  • Land borders with UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain reopened on 5th August with further easing expected to drive up interest in international travel

COVID Trends in KSA

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • Test positivity rate has been consistently improving reaching a low of 3% indicating the situation is largely under control
  • The number of daily new cases has been decreasing throughout July and early August. At this rate of rapid improvement, density of new cases might reach EU safe levels before end of August
  • Number of tests performed remains high- another positive sign that things are moving in the right direction

Travel Demand from UAE

Wego internal, UAE search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Late July/early August saw a step back in terms of travel interest as the effect of early July’s travel easing wore off while international travel restrictions continue to be in place globally
  • Domestic hotels remain the main growth driver at roughly 2019 levels, helped by the easing of local restrictions and the lack of outbound alternatives

COVID Trends in UAE

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • UAE continues to have by far the best test positivity rate in MENA on par with the safest countries worldwide 
  • New cases continue to decrease, though they are still relatively high and the rate of rapid improvement has slowed down to more moderate pace of improvement 
  • At the current rate of improvement, UAE may meet EU safe country requirements sometime in September 

Travel Demand from Kuwait

Wego internal, Kuwait search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Kuwait continues to struggle in its fight with the pandemic and travel interet is yet to show signs of consistent recovery 
  • The surge in hotel interest in late July was led by domestic staycations as local restrictions got lifted
  • From 2nd August, foreigners from 31 countries are allowed to fly in Kuwait subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine
  • Weekly flights to Germany resumed on 8th August

COVID Trends in Kuwait

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • Both new cases and test positivity trends are trending in positive direction, yet, the rate of improvement has been gradual and it will take substantial time to reach what’s generally considered a safe level
  • A more rapid increase in the testing rate is likely required in order to speed-up the recovery

Travel Demand from Qatar

Wego internal, Qatar search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Phase 3 of Qatar’s gradual reopening began on 27th July leading to a further increase in travel interest 
  • Similar to other markets, the primary growth driver continues to be domestic hotels which are now substantially exceeding  2019 levels
  • Qatar opened its doors for travel from 40 low-risk countries on 1st August

COVID Trends in Qatar

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • The density of new cases is still substantially higher than what’s considered safe levels yet the rapid gains in test positivity and the extensive testing continuing to be in place, Qatar has been making rapid progress
  • At the current pace of improvement, the country might reach EU’s safe levels sometime in September

Travel Demand from Bahrain

Wego internal, Bahrain search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • After the spike of cases in June and the re-imposing of restrictions, Bahrain has been slowly easing local regulations
  • Bahrain remains one of the few countries where interest in flights is on par with hotels
  • While travel interest continues to be largely muted, early August has seen some gains driven once again by hotel staycations

COVID Trends in Bahrain

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • Bahrain has one of the highest density of COVID cases.  In second half of July, the country seemed to have turned the corner with new cases finally starting to drop yet early August saw a plateauing of the curve at what is still a high level. 
  • Test positivity rate has consistently been within an acceptable range suggesting that a large percentage of the covid cases have been recorded. The latest trend indicates a slight deterioration- something to watch out for

Travel Demand from Oman

Wego internal, Oman search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Oman continues to be the worst-hit GCC country by the coronavirus depressing interest in travel
  • With official news confirming that the second lockdown is going to end on 8th August, Oman saw a surge for domestic hotels with the cities of Sohar and Muscat experiencing interest exceeding even 2019 levels
  • While the recent surge in domestic hotels is exciting, Oman continues to be heavily hit by the pandemic and likely to remain closed for international travel in the foreseeable future 

COVID Trends in Oman

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • The sharp drop in new cases of COVID is due to an official policy to slow down testing of non-severe cases and may not be indicative of the true spread of the virus
  • While the two-week lockdown has likely limited the infection rate, the policy changes regarding testing & reporting leaves some uncertainty as to the representativeness of the figures

North Africa: Travel Demand

Wego internal, North Africa search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

North Africa: Top Destinations

Wego internal, North Africa search activity by user location.

Travel Demand from Egypt

Wego internal, Egypt search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Travel interest in Egypt continues to recover as local restrictions are increasingly relaxed with most hotels in tourist locations are allowed to operate at the reduced capacity. 
  • Having the chance to experience Egypt’s iconic attractions free of the usual influx of international tourists continues to lure locals and push tourism to a respectable level
  • The last couple of weeks have been especially notable on the flights side, with cities such as Sohag and Assiut attracting interest multiple times higher than even last year’s levels! 

COVID Trends in Egypt

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • The number of new cases continues to be decreasing and the density is low both by MENA and global standards yet the lack of visibility on testing makes validating the level of the pandemic difficult

Travel Demand from Tunisia

Wego internal, Tunisia search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Largely seen as a success story, interest in travel continues to recover strongly in Tunisia reaching aggregate levels that are not far off from 2019
  • Particularly notable has been the strong performance of flights which has consistently outpaced hotels with cities like Aryanah, Sousse, Ben Arous attracting high levels of interest

COVID Trends in Tunisia

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • Density of new cases and testing data continue to be the best in MENA and among the world’s best.  Tunisia is now the only MENA country that remains on EU’s list for safe countries
  • Despite the pandemic being largely contained, a recent increase in cases led to instituting mandatory mask wearing and the closure of some weekly markets showing country’s resolve to fight the pandemic early and proactively
  • The situations in neighbouring Morocco and Algeria should serve as cautionary tales for how quickly things can change

Travel Demand from Morocco

Wego internal, Morocco search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Similar to Tunisia, Morocco has been widely regarded as one of the success stories in the fight with COVID 
  • A recent sharp increase in cases has put that reputation at risk
  • After government’s swift decision to ban intercity travel and mandatory mask wearing at the end of July, travel interest cratered for a couple of days, yet interest quickly bounced back despite the increase in the number of daily new cases

COVID Trends in Morocco

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • With the sharp increase in cases and increasing test positivity rate, EU dropped Morocco from the safe country list  
  • The swift intercity travel ban and mandatory mask wearing shows the government’s resolve to proactively face coronavirus outbreaks as it also did in early March
  • Given Morocco’s historic track record and latest swift government actions, future is likely to be better than the simple extrapolation of the latest figures may indicate

Travel Demand from Algeria

Wego internal, Algeria search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • While Algeria was accepted as a “safe country” similar to neighbouring Morocco and Tunisia, the country was in a worse position than both.
  • The recent increase of new cases led to EU dropping the country from the safe list and subdued interest in travel 
  • Government’s recent decision to partially ban road traffic in 29 provinces has further depressed travel demand

COVID Trends in Algeria

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • As predicted in the previous update, the higher density of new cases led to EU dropping Algeria from the safe country list 
  • While the recent trend suggests that the quick government actions have helped curb the latest increase, beginning to report data on testing remains a critical step towards evaluating how well Algeria is truly dealing with the pandemic

Turkey: Travel Demand

Wego internal, Turkey search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

Turkey: Top Destinations

Wego internal, Turkey search activity by user location.

Travel Demand from Turkey

Wego internal, Turkey search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Turkey has been one of the success stories having fully recovered from the major outbreak in April to be close to meeting EU’s safe country criteria
  • With tourists from Russia (a major source for inbound tourism) now being allowed into the country, Turkey’s tourism is likely to start a rapid recovery
  • Similar to Egypt, a lot of Turkish people have been eager to experience their country free of tourists while tapping on some great deals. Unlike Egypt, the rapid depreciation of the Turkish lira will likely dampen interest in travel as locals become uneasy spending their discretionary income

COVID Trends in Turkey

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • Turkey’s proactive and extensive testing program inside the country as well as the launch of testing centers in airports has boosted confidence in both domestic and inbound tourism  
  • While Turkey has been on the verge of meeting EU’s criteria for safe countries, the recent increase in cases is putting these hopes on a pause for now at a crucial time for Turkey’s tourism and economy at large

Levant: Travel Demand

Wego internal, Levant search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

Levant: Top Destinations

Wego internal, Levant search activity by user location.

Travel Demand from Lebanon

Wego internal, Lebanon search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • Despite an increase of COVID cases, the pandemic took a backstage as the Beirut explosion not only decimated a large part of Lebanon’s capital city but also led to the resignation of the prime-minister adding a political crisis to an already fragile and uncertain economic situation
  • Unsurprisingly, with political and economic developments taking the center stage, travel recovery took a step back in August reaching levels not seen since mid-June

COVID Trends in Lebanon

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • The recent spike in virus cases is a worrying sign that things might be getting out of control, however, with the blast destroying several hospitals and killing or seriously injuring a large number of people including medical personnel in Beirut, Lebanon’s ability to continue to handle the health situation will be put to the test
  • Further complicating the overall situation are the number of still hospitalised people injured from the blast, the potential of the ongoing mass protests to turn violent as well as to jumpstart the spread of the virus

Travel Demand from Jordan

Wego internal, Jordan search activity by user location. 100% equals 2019 average

  • In contrast to neighbouring Lebanon, the travel recovery in Jordan continues unabated with interest in accommodation now roughly on par with 2019 levels
  • While still trailing hotels, interest in flights has started to recover with an increasing number of flights now in operation. As reported in the previous edition, Jordan opened its borders to inbound tourism from ten low-risk countries
  • The newly-signed $100mil loan agreement should provide the country with additional ammunition to help deal with the economic effects of the coronavirus 

COVID Trends in Jordan

Source: Our World in Data, European Council

  • The density of new cases continues to be excellent, yet starting to report data on testing would be required in Jordan being widely recognised as a safe country