The tourism sector in the Gulf region is expected to recover once the Iran conflict ends, said Sebastian Ebel, the CEO of the travel group TUI. As he told “Tagesspiegel”, “as soon as peace is restored, hotels and airlines will try to win customers back with special offers. After a few months the tourism business will return to normal”.
At present, TUI is not offering trips to the affected areas because of the escalation in the region. Nonetheless, individual travelers are still heading to Dubai on their own, and a number of hotels there are offering discounts of up to 80 percent. “Some people want to take advantage of those offers” Ebel added.
Before the war began, TUI had agreed on a partnership with Oman. The plan involved building and operating five hotels in Oman’s Dhofar region in the south, and giving Oman a foothold in TUI. Oman had intended to take a 1.4 per cent stake in the German company. Although the project has been postponed, Ebel said it has not been abandoned. “We had planned to execute the project by 31 March, but the current crisis makes that impossible” he said. Oman has asked for a suspension, and according to signals from Muscat, the arrangement is simply delayed rather than cancelled.