MENA travel trends 2023: UK, US, France, UAE top picks, close to home & experience-focused tourism

The United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are top travel picks for Africans and Middle Easterners in 2023, according to a recent Mastercard report that also highlighted an increasing trend when African travelers prioritize authentic experiences over material possessions, which in turn reshapes industry dynamics.

Apart from uncovering the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the UAE as being the leading international travel choices for Africans, the fourth-annual travel report by the Mastercard Economics Institute has also revealed a notable shift in preferences emphasizing immersive encounters and proximity in travel selections.

As the cases of Morocco and Israel show, experiences-focused spending remains the out-performer in the MENA region.

Central to the 2023 travel outlook is an emphasis on experiences like travel over things, says the report entitled “Travel Industry Trends 2023’, pointing out that this year’s trends in travel are being shaped by the different ways people around the world travel and mainland China’s reopening.

Emerging travel corridors are fueled by regional economic trends. While the top three outbound destinations, the UK, France and the US, are not in the region, in a new dynamic not seen in 2022, travelers are exploring destinations closer to home. This highlights diversification in the Middle East’s economy — in particular Saudi Arabia and Egypt — who made the top 10 ranking this year after not appearing in 2022. This is thanks to a variety of factors, including: increased tourism investment efforts, development of leisure and cultural tourism offerings, expansion of air routes and strategic marketing campaigns. The Middle East and Africa also looks to follow the growing trend seen in the rest of the world in experience-driven spending, with travelers increasingly valuing experiences over material possessions.