Is AI front and center in the future of Aviation?

• AI can involve itself in modeling new airplane designs against different operational scenarios
• Travel recovery is well established after COVID, but there’s no uniform line of growth across the industry

Pre-Covid travel industry arrival figures are back but venture capital is experiencing delays    

• UN Tourism tracked 1.3 billion global arrivals, up from 975 million a year earlier, near 2019 figures of 1.475 billion
• Greenfield FDI in tourism was under the US$11 billion mark in 2023 below the US$59bn recorded in 2019

Qatar outpaces Saudi Arabia and UAE in tourism growth with 147% surge

• The surge in tourism can be attributed to Qatar's strategic investments in luxury offerings, and a visa-free entry policy for citizens of 102 countries
• Qatar has effectively leveraged high-profile events like the FIFA World Cup to enhance its global tourism profile, alongside significant infrastructure development

Saudi Arabia achieves 73 percent increase in international tourist arrivals: UN report

• According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Kingdom continued to top the list of G20 countries in the indicators of the growth rate of the number of international tourists
• The Kingdom's various tourist destinations have witnessed a significant rise in international tourist numbers this year, with the number of tourist arrivals reaching 17.5 million

GACA report: Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport ranked best for 15M+ passengers

• Airports are assessed based on 11 operational performance standards, which align with strategic objectives to enhance services and ensure a seamless traveller experience
• GACA categorizes airports for performance evaluation based on annual passenger numbers, ensuring a transparent approach

‘Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector to achieve 150 million visitors by 2030’

• In recent years, Saudi Arabia has invested $800 billion in tourism, and just in the first 6 months of 2024, the country welcomed 60 million tourists, Aradhana Khowala tells TRENDS
• Nearly 50% of those involved with Red Sea Global are locals, which highlights an important shift from the old model of relying on imported, inexpensive labor, she notes

Qantas scraps non-stop UK flight due to Middle East unrest

• The flight, usually a non-stop 17-and-a-half hour journey, will now refuel in Singapore, allowing it to carry a full load of passengers on a route that avoids contested air space
• The region is bracing for a military retaliation from Iran against Israel, following the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas

Saudi Arabia leads GCC travel growth to India with a 40% rise in flight searches: report

Saudi bid to host 2034 World Cup positions Kingdom as global center for top sports events

• Saudi topped the UNs’ list for highest growth in international tourist numbers in 2023
• FIFA is set to confirm Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2034 event in December

Jordan’s Umm al-Jimal added to UNESCO heritage list

• The village is near the Jordanian-Syrian border, 86 kilometres north of Amman, and is known as "the black oasis" due to the prevalence of black volcanic rock in the area
• The village was first settled by the Nabataean peoples in the first century AD and later occupied by the Romans, becoming an important agricultural and commercial village