Kuwait to invest $1 bn

Kuwait returns to ATM 2016 to showcase its tourism offerings, as investment into the tourism sector is forecast to touch KWD 276 million ($1 billion) over the next decade through to 2025.

Kuwait’s strategy for longterm tourism growth received a boost in 2015, with airport passenger volume growing from around 10 million travellers in 2014 to just over 10.2 million last year as the Gulf state ploughs ahead with plans to expand its transportation infrastructure. According to a World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) report entitled ‘Kuwait Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2015’, tourism accounted for 1.5 per cent of total GDP in 2015, and is set to rise by 0.3 per cent by 2025, although this is being revisited given the current low oil prices scenario. This would take total GDP contribution to 1.8 per cent, or KWD1.6 billion in 2025. The report also highlighted potential gains in leisure spend, which is expected to grow by 6.2 per cent per annum to KWD 2.4 billion in 2025, while business travel is expected to grow by 5.6% per annum to KWD457.3 million in 2025.

“Kuwait is focused on adding new high profile brands to its hotel mix as well as opening up the country with its expansion programme for Kuwait International airport,” said Nadege Noblet-Segers, Exhibition Manager, Arabian Travel Market.

The country’s hotel pipeline is also adding new value to the tourism mix with an under-development collection of new luxury and more affordable accommodation options. High-end brands such as Four Seasons, which will open its first 263-key Kuwait property at Burj Alshaya at the end of 2016, will be joined by the Mercure Kuwait (2017), Hilton Olympia Kuwait in 2019 and a Grand Hyatt in 2020.