Business Traveller (Middle East)
WE L C O M E
Despite the ongoing turmoil caused by COVID-19, the world keeps turning. Even during recent lockdowns the wheel of international affairs has been in motion, and while some matters have been put on the backburner as global leaders navigate their countries through the unprecedented health crisis, many others have come to the fore.
In the Middle East, behind the scenes negotiations between the UAE and Israel have been in full swing, leading to the surprise “normalisation agreement” announcement in August.
Face-to-face meetings between high-level delegations of the two countries soon followed, which among other things, led to the first ever commercial flight between the nations, with Israel’s flag carrier El Al flying direct from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi.
The historic agreement, known as the ‘Abraham Accord’, brokered by the US, was signed by the UAE and Israel on September 15 at the White House, ushering a new era for business and travel in the Middle East. Following in the UAE’s footsteps, Bahrain has also normalised its relationship with
Israel and it is widely believed other GCC states will follow suit.
Israel says it expects to seal deals worth at least US$500 million after normalising ties with the UAE and Bahrain and sectors set to benefit include security, science, banking, education, agritech, travel tech and many more – if commercial flights were to operate between Israel and the GCC, it would deliver significant travel and tourism opportunities.
Last month I interviewed Professor Yaniv Poria, Chairman of the Department of Hotel and Tourism Management at Israel’s Ben- Gurion University of the Negev (see page 20), who told me Israelis were excited at the possibility of visiting the UAE.
He cited the Gulf ’s food, shopping and adventure tourism offering, its high-quality resorts and airlines and importantly, the region’s value for money, as major draw cards, while the chance for cross-country knowledge exchange “in the spirit of innovation” also appealed, he said. “It’s a novel destination and Israelis are curious,” Poria told me.
The potential for business cooperation between Israel and the Gulf States is undeniably huge and Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Minister of Regional Co-operation told London’s Financial Times the landmark bilateral economic relationships would “build a new Middle East”. Beyond that, the most profound outcome possible was that mutually beneficial economic development would build a “bridge to peace”, he said.
Given the current global environment, this could be a positive legacy of 2020, salvaging a year ravaged by COVID-19. It’s certainly a new dawn and I look forward to reporting on the travel benefits normalisation deals will most certainly deliver.