The war in the Middle East is costing the region's tourism industry $600 million a day in lost tourism revenue, according to estimates by an international trade organization, UNN reports with reference to the Financial Times.
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Flight cancellations, airspace closures, and growing concerns among potential travelers are harming the region's tourism economy after Tehran launched strikes on several Persian Gulf countries following attacks by the US and Israel.
"Even short periods of disruption can quickly lead to significant economic losses for tourism destinations, businesses, and workers across the region," said Gloria Guevara, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, which provided the estimate.
Travelers are rushing to cancel their holidays in the region. According to AirDNA, a group that collects data from sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, more than 80,000 short-term rental bookings were canceled in Dubai alone in the week leading up to March 6.
Prior to the conflict, the World Travel and Tourism Council predicted that foreign tourists would spend about $207 billion in the Middle East this year.
Cities like Dubai have thrived by offering luxury, year-round sunshine, and tranquility in a region often plagued by tension.
However, some of the world's most luxurious hotels have found themselves caught up in the conflict. Debris from intercepted missiles fell on Dubai's Burj Al Arab hotel, while Accor's Fairmont The Palm hotel on Palm Jumeirah island suffered a direct hit.
Major regional transport hubs such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, and Bahrain typically handle over half a million air passengers daily, but according to Cirium, five days of flight cancellations across the region left approximately 4 million travelers stranded last week.
Over the past week, hundreds of flights have departed from Middle Eastern airports in an attempt to repatriate tens of thousands of tourists who were still stranded.
Dubai resumed flights last week and had restored about a quarter of its flights by Thursday. Qatar opened its airspace over the weekend but closed it again on Sunday, although a small number of flights operated on Tuesday with special permission.
Tourism destinations in the Middle East have previously recovered from outbreaks of conflict. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) - a key growth indicator in the hotel industry - plummeted in Qatar in the week after Israel struck Doha last September, but resumed growth less than a month later, according to hotel analytics firm CoStar.
While some analysts expect business travel to recover due to the region's strategic location between Europe and Asia, leisure travelers may seek other options.
"If you're personally thinking about where you want to go with your family for a holiday, you can quite easily switch to another destination that ticks all the boxes," said Matthew Polman, a partner at the law firm Goodwin, who specializes in the hotel and tourism business.
However, others are more optimistic. "There's a reason why this area has been popular," said Richard Clarke, an analyst at Bernstein.
"Obviously, while there are explosions happening, demand will be low... But as soon as that's over, I think people will come back," he said.
"Travelers tend to have shorter memories than investors," the expert pointed out.
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