Gulf travel agents believe the spot will go back to international travel by August and September

As regular passenger flights are slowly reintroduced at various airports around the region, a new survey shows that Gulf-based travel companies envisage a full return to international travel by August and September.

The study, being conducted on a monthly basis by Aviareps, included answers from 94 outbound travel agencies across the GCC.

The majority be prepared to commence promoting travel offerings from July to September. Deals will need the kind of full travel packages that include air, accommodation and tours, with intra-Middle East options expected to be most popular. That is accompanied by packages for travel to South East Asian, Indian Ocean destinations and Europe.

The most notable 10 destinations that are expected to rank highly on people’s travel plans will be the Maldives, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Austria, the UAE, Australia, Germany, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

A complete of 60 per cent of these surveyed expect a return to outbound travel form August and September this year. However, 14 % don’t expect this to occur before 2021.

About 97 % of respondents said flights, accommodation, land arrangements (including car hire) and tours will participate their forthcoming promotions.

A previous survey undertaken by Dubai-based travel and tourism communications agency, AllDetails, found 86 % of respondents plan to travel internationally post-pandemic.

The analysis was conducted among residents of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Some respondents said their travel plans rely upon health security measures set up. Occasionally, if content with the conditions, they said they would be pleased to travel as soon as two to a month after restrictions have been lifted.

The survey showed those between your ages of 21 to 34 are willing to wait longer than those between the ages of 35 and 64, a lot of whom said they might travel within four weeks after restrictions have eased.

“The world with regards to the likelihood of international travel is changing daily,” said Glenn Johnston, vice president of Middle East and global public affairs at Aviareps.

“Encouragingly, regardless of the current difficulties and disruptions alive and business as we knew it, the survey results do reflect the Middle East’s penchant for a standard view of optimism and action, that i think most of us may take solace in and strength from as we all arrange for recovery in the months ahead.”

Regular passenger flights out of Dubai International Airport ceased on Tuesday, March 24 in a bid to stem the global spread of Covid-19. Repatriation flights to select destinations have already been running, with regular passenger flights by Emirates restarting to nine destinations on Thursday, May 21. The Dubai airline can be getting ready to expand its network to service 50 destinations by the finish of June

Emirates president Tim Clark recently said he's hopeful that foreign tourists will be visiting Dubai once more by July.