The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tourism sector contributed approximately $254.7 billion to the regional economy in 2025, supported by 75.7 million visitor arrivals and inbound visitor spending reaching about $131.9 billion, according to www.indexbox.io data. Between 2019 and 2025, the sector’s economic impact grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3%, exceeding the global average CAGR of 6.7% recorded over the same period.
In 2026, the GCC Statistical Centre organized the eighth Regional Workshop on Innovation in Tourism Statistics in Muscat, Oman. The two-day event brought together around 30 specialists and officials from statistical agencies across the GCC
member states. The workshop concentrated on improving tourism data integration, assessing data quality, and analyzing trends to enhance the accuracy and comparability of tourism statistics within the region.
GCC nations accounted for roughly 5% of global tourist movements and 6.9% of global tourism receipts in 2025. The progress toward the Gulf Tourism Strategy objectives reached an average implementation rate of 73.8% through that year, reflecting significant regional commitment to sustainable tourism development.
Intisar Al Wahaibi, Director General of the GCC Statistical Centre, highlighted that tourism is expanding consistently across the Gulf and has become a fundamental component of national development
frameworks. She noted the essential role of reliable tourism statistics in measuring the sector’s economic contributions, monitoring development progress, and guiding policy decisions and investments.
Discussions during the workshop addressed common challenges such as reliance on single data sources and the necessity for robust legal, institutional, and technical frameworks to facilitate data sharing among GCC member states. Participants explored statistical integration methods including data linkage, matching, calibration, and reconciliation aimed at improving the reliability and comparability of tourism indicators. The event emphasized fostering collaboration among entities that generate tourism data and those holding complementary datasets to strengthen evidence-based tourism policies.
