Kuwait gets two million GCC tourists every year
KUWAIT: “Kuwait attracts around two million Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tourists every year with an annual increase of five percent, especially during vacations and short holidays,” said Nabila Al-Anjeri, General Manager of Leaders Group Company for Consultancy and Development (LG). “Visitors come to Kuwait for various purposes such as business, exhibitions, conferences and family visits. Their needs must be met because they are the only ones who managed to adapt to the situations in Kuwait despite current restrictions here,” Anjeri said.
Nabila Al-Anjeri
LG’s monthly report stressed that GCC tourism could be used as a nucleus to develop local tourism and commercially revive many sectors. The report added that the current 3,000 hotel apartments (with over 5,000 rooms) should be increased because the majority of GCC tourists prefer staying in them and that some tourists have to be listed on waiting lists in special occasions.
The report also stressed that despite the bad condition of touristic infrastructure, many GCC tourists still prefer Kuwait as a touristic destination. According to the report, Saudi nationals form over 88 percent of the two million visitors, constituting 1.7 million visitors, who come to Kuwait by land mainly for family and in-law relations. Eight percent of the visitors come from Bahrain while those coming from UAE, Oman and Qatar are less in numbers.
Domestic tourism Further, the report called for developing touristic and recreational facilities to attract more tourists as well as citizens to spend tier vacations in Kuwait instead of flocking abroad during holidays and vacations. “This will help shift the millions they spend abroad inwards,” stressed the report, pointing out that Kuwait’s location at the center of the Middle East is unique. In addition, the report called for more focus on ‘transit-tourism,’ especially since huge numbers of Bahrainis go on pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia or Iraq through Kuwait and since those numbers are annually increasing. “Border exits need to be developed and more rest houses and cafeterias should be built on the way for those pilgrims. This will encourage more small and medium project,” the report underlined.