Despite suffering setbacks in the form of the global financial crisis and the outbreak of Swine Flu, the Middle East tourism industry is likely to see growth of between two and six percent, according to latest figures from the World Tourism Organisation.

This follows an overall regional increase of 11% in 2008 compared to just 2% across the rest of the world.

“The tourism industry heavily relies on attracting tourists. This concept, in turn, depends on diversifying tourism services, which are no longer exclusive to visiting museums and historical places, but also include religious tourism, medical tourism, tourism for relaxation purposes, sports tourism, education and art tourism, and touring for festivals and conferences,” explained chairman of Al Dhiafa Holding and Jinan Hotels and Resorts H.E. Saeed Ahmed Mohammed bin Butti.

The WTO also revealed that just 42% of Arab tourists choose to visit the Arab World, with 58% heading outside of the region. However, statistics from the Syrian Ministry of Tourism show that this growth in Arab tourism has been due to the increase in the number of tourists from GCC countries, which amounted to 116,109 tourists in Q1 2009, compared to 94,158 tourists in the same period in 2008, a growth rate of 23%.

Some countries are really benefitting from Arab tourism; for example, 50% of 4.8 million Arab tourists are planning to spend their holidays in Jordan this year, while in Lebanon is expected to attract almost two million tourists, mostly Arabs.