A report says that international tourism revenues in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states rose to $120.2 billion in 2024
Data released by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed that non-oil exports, including re-exports, rose by 32.3% in October 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.
National non-oil exports increased by 2.4%, while total merchandise exports grew by 11.8%, contributing to a 47.4% increase in the trade balance surplus compared with October 2024.
According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) imports rose by 4.3% in October 2025. The ratio of non-oil exports to imports increased to 42.3%, compared with 33.4% in the previous year.
Another report says that international tourism revenues in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states rose to $120.2 billion in 2024, up 39.6 percent from 2019 and 8.9 percent from 2023, the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Gulf-Stat) said.
This reflects the continued strong performance of inbound tourism to the GCC countries in 2024, recording notable growth in visitor numbers, revenues, and employment, thereby reinforcing the sector’s role as one of the key drivers of economic diversification and support for GDP.
In its “Travel and Tourism in the GCC Countries 2024” report, Gulf-Stat said international tourist arrivals to the region reached 72.2 million in 2024, up 51.5 percent from 2019 and 6.1 percent from 2023, taking the GCC’s share of global tourism to 5.2 percent.
This performance reflects a recovery exceeding pre-pandemic levels, driven by expanded air connectivity, visa facilitation measures, and the diversification of tourism products.
By source market, the Middle East accounted for 18.8 percent of inbound tourists, followed by Europe at 14.6 percent and Asia-Pacific at 14.5 percent, it said.
Intra-GCC travel made up 41.3 percent of total international tourists, with an average annual growth rate of 51.2 percent between 2019 and 2024, Gulf-Stat said, citing greater mobility and joint events.
Tourism infrastructure expanded alongside demand, with hotel establishments in the GCC reaching 11,200 properties, comprising about 711,500 rooms. Tourism employment rose to 1.7 million workers in 2024, up 33.0 percent from 2020.
Direct travel and tourism GDP reached $93.5 billion in 2024, achieving 64.1 percent of the 2030 target, while the sector’s share of GCC GDP rose to 4.3 percent.
Gulf-Stat said sustainability indicators showed an average length of stay of 8.4 nights and average spending of $674.6, alongside improved labour productivity. With achievement rates of 56 percent to 78 percent of GCC Tourism Strategy 2030 targets, it said the region was well positioned to sustain growth, particularly in cultural, eco, and business and conference tourism.
Social Protection
Data released by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) said social protection systems in Gulf states have become an advanced model regionally and internationally, combining social inclusion with economic capacity to sustain extensive welfare networks.
In its report, “The State and Policies of Social Protection in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries,” GCC-Stat said member states outperform many countries across international social protection indicators.
All GCC states fall within the “very high human development” category in the 2025 Human Development Index, reflecting strong performance in health, education and quality of life. GCC countries also exceed the global average in the 2025 Social Progress Index, signalling progress in human well-being and development, the report said.
GCC-Stat noted that average GDP per capita in the GCC in 2024 was around three times the global average, while all member states ranked among the top six in the Global Competitiveness Index at the regional level of West Asia and Africa, supporting their ability to finance broad social protection programmes.
The report said 100 percent of the GCC population has access to education, healthcare, clean water and electricity, and that GCC countries are free of slums or inadequate housing, compared with a global rate of 24.7 percent.
Government spending on social protection ranged between 19.2 percent and 22.9 percent of total government expenditure in 2022, the report said, reflecting the priority placed on investment in people.
Social protection programmes cover all stages of life, starting with childhood registration, where 100 percent of children under five in GCC states are registered in civil records, compared with 77.2 percent globally. Coverage extends through working age through unemployment, workplace injury, maternity and paternity benefits, and into retirement through mandatory pension systems, where replacement rates can reach up to 100 percent of contributory salary in some countries.
GCC-Stat said the number of insured individuals in GCC pension systems exceeded 15 million, while the number of retirees surpassed 985,000. The number of heirs receiving benefits exceeded 497,000, with annual insurance benefits totalling more than $31 billion.
The report also highlighted the “Extending Social Protection” initiative, which allows GCC citizens working in other member states to remain covered by pension and social insurance schemes. In 2023, about 34,000 citizens were covered in states other than their home countries, representing growth of more than 330 percent compared with 2007.
Despite progress, the report cited challenges including demographic change, ensuring long-term financial sustainability, closing coverage gaps for certain groups, improving benefit adequacy, and strengthening institutional coordination and data integration.
It recommended developing more inclusive and sustainable systems, diversifying funding sources, and establishing a unified GCC-level information system to support impact assessment and evidence-based policymaking.
The report is framed under the GCC’s Comprehensive Development Strategy (2010–2025), supported by joint strategies covering labour, civil service and human resource development, population policy and women’s labour affairs.
