{"id":37984,"date":"2026-06-10T10:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/37984\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:46:38","slug":"spain-and-morocco-see-rise-in-tourist-numbers-and-position-themselves-as-an-alternative-to-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/37984\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain and Morocco see rise in tourist numbers and position themselves as an alternative to the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tUN Tourism Barometer<\/a><\/p>\n

\tEurope and Africa, the best performers<\/a><\/p>\n

\tMiddle East: 14% decline<\/a><\/p>\n

\tSpain and Morocco are making progress<\/a><\/p>\n

The international tourism landscape has been shaken since war was declared in the Middle East. The consequences of the attacks by Israel and the United States, and Iran\u2019s response, have had repercussions across the globe and, most notably, in the tourism sector.<\/p>\n

Alongside security concerns \u2013 with travellers avoiding destinations that have become potential military targets, such as the Gulf states \u2013 there is the disruption caused by rising fuel prices due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the diversion of numerous flights that used to pass through Middle Eastern hubs.<\/p>\n

In recent days, we have seen the IATA<\/a> warn that airlines\u2019 expected profits have been halved. These effects will worsen the longer the armed conflict lasts.<\/p>\n

\"El
\nMorocco is looking to attract mountain tourism to Tafraoute, a town in the province of Tiznit, in the Souss-Massa region, which has become one of the country\u2019s most sought-after new destinations\u00a0– Depositphotos<\/a><\/p>\n

UN Tourism Barometer<\/p>\n

Looking at the latest figures published by UNWTO<\/a>, the first quarter of 2026 does not yet fully reflect the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. According to the organisation, between January and March this year, a total of 307 million tourists travelled internationally, representing an increase of around 6 million tourists compared to the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

The cumulative year-on-year growth of 2.5% in January and February gave way to a meagre 0.4% in March\u2019s figures, by which time the conflict had already broken out.<\/p>\n

The international organisation estimates that, depending on the duration and scope of the war, growth in international arrivals for 2026 will be reduced to 1\u20132%, compared with the 3\u20134% initially forecast.<\/p>\n

The report also notes that \u201cin addition to disruptions to flights to and from the Middle East and within the region, as well as the impact on traveller confidence, the sudden rise in oil prices and the shortage of jet fuel in some markets is also leading to higher fares and reduced air capacity in other regions. The rising cost of travel, coupled with uncertainty over air connectivity, could redirect demand towards closer tourist destinations, whilst affecting global travel demand\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO\/PIXABAY
\nDubai is one of the tourist destinations set to be affected by the drop in visitor numbers due to the war – PHOTO\/PIXABAY<\/p>\n

Europe and Africa, the best performers<\/p>\n

Given the current geopolitical landscape and despite the limited impact of the war on first-quarter figures, UNWTO notes that both Europe and Africa have recorded very positive results.<\/p>\n

Europe welcomed over 130 million international tourists in the first quarter of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 4%. Some destinations are already benefiting from the redirection of tourist flows caused by the war. Specifically, Southern Mediterranean Europe and Northern Europe recorded, according to UNWTO, a 4% increase in arrivals in the first quarter of 2026, whilst Central and Eastern Europe recorded a 6% increase.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, arrivals in Africa continued to grow in the first quarter of 2026, with a 4% increase in the North African region, on top of a double-digit rise in March (+18%), and a 4% increase in Sub-Saharan Africa over the same period.<\/p>\n

Middle East: 14% decline<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the sharpest decline in visitor numbers was recorded in the Middle East, the region affected by the war. According to UNWTO data, arrivals fell by 14% in the first quarter of 2026, with several Gulf destinations recording sharp declines, whilst Egypt (+16%) saw an increase in arrivals.<\/p>\n

The report also shows that overall occupancy in accommodation establishments reached 64% in March 2026, with Europe (65%) and Africa (56%) performing very well, whilst occupancy rates in the Middle East fell to 48% in March, down from 75% recorded in January.<\/p>\n

The sector\u2019s concern over the situation in the Middle East has been confirmed by the results of the latest survey by the Tourism Experts Group, according to which the conflict in the Middle East, high transport and accommodation costs, and other economic factors are the three challenges most affecting international tourism in 2026.<\/p>\n

Almost two-thirds of the experts (64%) indicated that the Middle East conflict is negatively affecting demand for travel to their destination, of whom 43% consider the impact to be moderate and 21% that it is high. A further 36% noted that the conflict is having little or no impact on demand.<\/p>\n

Around 61% of experts stated that the conflict in the Middle East is reducing inbound tourism to their respective destinations, whilst, conversely, 17% noted an increase in inbound tourism as a result of the disruptions experienced in other destinations. Around 14% of responses indicated an increase in domestic tourism, as domestic travel is partly replacing travel abroad.<\/p>\n

\"Chefchaouen,
\nChefchaouen, the Blue City in north-eastern Morocco, has become one of the region\u2019s leading tourist destinations – PHOTO\/ATALAYAR<\/p>\n

Spain and Morocco are making progress<\/p>\n

In this context, countries such as Spain and Morocco may experience an increase in arrivals, as a rebound effect from tourists who have had to cancel their planned holidays in the Gulf countries or other Middle Eastern destinations.<\/p>\n

Spain continues to hold a privileged position in the global tourism sector: it ranks second, behind France, in tourist arrivals and second, in this case behind the United States, in terms of tourism revenue.<\/p>\n

For its part, Morocco is reaping the rewards of its commitment to tourism and has climbed three places in the global ranking by number of visitors (19.8 million in 2025), reaching 22nd place. In terms of tourism revenue (14.8 billion dollars), the country has climbed one place and is now 31st in the world.<\/p>\n

Morocco is maintaining an upward trend during the first quarter of 2026, with a 7% increase in arrivals, tripling the global average of just 2%.<\/p>\n

As leading tourist destinations in both Europe and Africa, Spain and Morocco should see the impact of tourist arrivals that were originally intended for the Middle East reflected in their figures for the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

In any case, as Exceltur and various research bodies such as La Caixa have warned, it must be borne in mind that the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf states\u2014a major hub for international aviation\u2014may also have affected the number of arrivals from Asian countries, which stop over in this region to reach Europe or North Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UN Tourism Barometer Europe and Africa, the best performers Middle East: 14% decline Spain and Morocco are making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3645,18055,3648,18057,18056,3644,2264,18053,9598,10235,1086,17,18054,27],"class_list":["post-37984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-espana","tag-guerra","tag-l","tag-la-guerre","tag-maroc","tag-marruecos","tag-morocco","tag-oriente-medio","tag-sociedad","tag-societe","tag-society","tag-spain","tag-turismo","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}