Saudi Arabia has recorded one of the steepest climbs in global tourism rankings since 2019, while the United Arab Emirates has emerged as the world’s top-ranked economy for air transport infrastructure, according to the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2026, published in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group.
The findings arrive even as the region grapples with the fallout of the escalating Middle East conflict, which the report says disrupted “a critical aviation corridor linking Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa” beginning in late February 2026, with knock-on effects on flight schedules, fuel costs, airfares and traveller confidence.
Saudi Arabia’s workforce transformation
Saudi Arabia rose to 29th place out of 110 ranked economies in 2026, up 17 places and 7.8% in score since 2019, and three places since the 2024 edition. The Kingdom recorded the second-largest improvement globally in the Human Resources and Labour Market pillar over that period, the report found — a shift the WEF attributes directly to Vision 2030’s tourism expansion drive.
A dedicated case study in the report credits the Ministry of Tourism’s Human Capability Development Program, which combines scholarships and training for Saudi nationals, professional certification and leadership tracks, and secondments and apprenticeships with international hospitality institutions. The results are striking: tourism employment in the Kingdom reached nearly 1.03 million jobs in 2025, while the share of Saudi women in tourism roles rose to approximately 47%, up from just 5% in 2018.
“Saudi Arabia’s large-scale investment in tourism talent development, coupled with strong gains in workforce participation and employment, highlights the role that coordinated workforce strategies can play in supporting rapid tourism growth,” the report states, adding that the lesson for destinations facing similar pressures is that “long-term competitiveness depends on fostering the people and capabilities needed to deliver growth.”
UAE tops air connectivity, but slips three places
The UAE ranked 22nd overall with a score of 4.56, edging up 4.6% in score and four places since 2019, though it slipped three places compared with the 2024 edition. Notably, the UAE was named the world’s top-ranked economy in the Air Transport Infrastructure pillar — one of five pillars where leadership tables were published — underscoring the strength of its aviation hubs even as regional airspace came under strain elsewhere.
Air Transport Infrastructure was among the fastest-improving pillars globally, rising 7.2% since 2024 with 92% of economies posting higher scores, the report found, though it noted that “leadership remains concentrated in established connectivity hubs.”
A mixed picture across the Gulf and wider region
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatar posted the region’s fastest gains, climbing 10 places to rank 47th, a 6% score improvement since 2024. Qatar was also the most-improved economy worldwide in the Price Competitiveness pillar, up 49%, and the second most-improved in Openness to T&T, up 12%. Bahrain rose to 55th (score 4.11, up 2.4% since 2024), while Kuwait fell to 88th (3.53) and Israel dropped three places to 50th (4.18).
Egypt, ranked 63rd, was named the world’s top performer in the Price Competitiveness pillar. Jordan slipped four places to 73rd, while Morocco was among the region’s strongest improvers, climbing seven places to 70th on a 5.5% score gain. Algeria rose four places to 89th, while Tunisia fell four places to 82nd.
Two regional economies — Iran and Lebanon — were among those dropped from the 2026 edition entirely, the WEF said, alongside Barbados, Cambodia, Moldova, Montenegro, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela, citing limited comparable statistical data. No new economies were added this year.
Middle East and North Africa post the sharpest regional gains — but from a lower base
At the regional level, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) recorded some of the strongest overall improvement of any region worldwide, with average scores rising 2.5% between 2024 and 2026 — behind only Asia-Pacific’s 3.6% — driven by particularly strong gains in Cultural Resources, Tourist Services and Infrastructure, and T&T Demand Sustainability. The region’s average TTDI score stood at 3.98, still below Europe and Eurasia’s 4.39 and the Americas’ 3.96 — though ahead of sub-Saharan Africa’s 3.36.
MENA accounted for 10% of global international tourist arrivals but only 4.5% of T&T industry GDP and 4.1% of employment share, the report’s regional breakdown showed, pointing to a gap between visitor volumes and economic value capture that the WEF flags as a broader global challenge.
Conflict exposes the corridor’s fragility
The report is candid about the shock delivered by the Middle East conflict. Airspace closures, security concerns and restrictions “disrupted a critical aviation corridor,” and in April 2026, traffic carried by Middle Eastern carriers contracted 46.6% year-on-year — dragging global air traffic down 3.4%, the first such contraction since the post-pandemic recovery. International tourist arrivals still grew 2% globally in the first quarter of 2026, but growth came in “every region except the Middle East,” a sign, the WEF argues, of the sector’s broader resilience even as one corridor buckled.
Despite the disruption, the report notes that growth in international arrivals during 2025 was strongest in “the Middle East and Africa” combined, even as Asia-Pacific continued closing the gap to pre-pandemic travel levels — underscoring that the region’s underlying tourism momentum predates this year’s shock.
Global backdrop: record arrivals, growing strain
Globally, the TTDI 2026 found that 92% of the 110 ranked economies improved their scores between 2024 and 2026 — the fastest pace of improvement since 2019 — as international arrivals hit a record 1.5 billion in 2025 and travel and tourism’s total economic contribution reached $11.6 trillion, or nearly 10% of global GDP, supporting 366 million jobs worldwide.
Japan topped the overall rankings for the first time, followed by the United States, Spain, Australia and France, with advanced economies holding nine of the top 10 places. But the WEF’s central warning is that affordability, investment and workforce gaps are widening even as tourism activity recovers, and that resilience — the ability to keep functioning through shocks like the one now reshaping Middle East skies — is becoming as important a competitive advantage as scenery, culture or price.
