VISITS TO KUWAIT-DOHA-DUBÁI

The Passeig de Gràcia Association has carried out a series of commercial actions in the Middle East market, with visits to Kuwait, Qatar and the Arab Emirates, which took place just before our participation in the Dubai ATM tourism fair.

From the meetings that have been held with different markets in the Middle East we can deduce that in general, Spain is a destination in which these markets feel welcomed, and which they like to return.

Visitors from the Middle East travel frequently to places on the coast, and the preferred cities of our country are Madrid and Barcelona.

As for their interests, they focus on shopping, relaxing in coastal areas, luxury hotels and sporting events. They usually prefer a relaxed vacation and make many last minute changes and reservations.

They usually travel in large family groups, although the number of people who prefer to travel alone increases more and more. They look for hotels of great luxury, with very large and intercommunicated rooms since they travel with a lot of luggage.

According to data from Turespaña, the countries where tourism is most growing to Spain are Iran and Kuwai, although there are others like Qatar for which data are not available.

Most tourists from the Middle East prefer to use physical agencies and are very loyal to their travel agent. Only for those trips that exclusively include the purchase of airline tickets are online reservations growing.

The interest in the global offer of the Passeig de Gràcia axis has increased significantly in recent years, and Barcelona is emerging as one of the preferred destinations for these markets, thanks to its large range of shopping and restaurants, as well as its good weather throughout the year.