Reeling them in

In recent years, tourist arrivals to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have increased from 23.5 million in 2006 to 29.7 million in 2011, representing a an average annual growth rate of around 5 percent. The Gulf region, as well as the Middle East overall, are clearly part of a global trend that has made tourism as important to the world economy as the automotive sector. But governments in the GCC have to do much more if their countries are to participate extensively in the global growth of hospitality and benefit from the 70 percent increase in global tourist arrivals over the next 20 years that is predicted by the sector’s main international organizations, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)  and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). If accurate, that will mean a whopping 1.8 billion global tourists a year. While the six GCC states have considerable tourism potential, none