The Impact of Covid-19 on the Tourism Sector in GCC Countries

The tourism sector is one of the economically important sectors, which is a source of national income for many countries around the world. Therefore, countries give it great importance and strive to develop it. Tourism occupies third place in terms of its contribution to the international economy after chemicals and fuels with total exports of US $ 1.6 trillion in 2017 (UNWTO, 2018). The Covid-19 Pandemic has affected all economic sectors around the world and the tourism sector is considered one of the economic activities most affected by the pandemic. Both the supply and demand for tourism have been affected to a large extent due to restrictions imposed on travel destinations. In addition, a large number of countries cancelled flights to limit the spread of the virus, which led to a decline in tourism activities. This paper measures the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector in GCC countries by measuring the impact of pandemic on the movement of aviation and travellers, which in turn affected the movement of international tourists in the region and thus affected the tourism activities and other industries related to the tourism sector.