International departures in the Middle East and Africa have recovered rapidly and are now just 6 pc below the pre-pandemic peaks registered in 2019, says a report by Swiss travel research firm m1nd-set, using the data provided by International Air Transport Association (IATA).

It says that international departures for the Middle East alone already surpassed the 2019 level in Q1, 2023, while in Africa, air traffic was at around 88 pc of the same period in 2019. It adds that in terms of airports and nationalities in the Middle East and Africa region, based on traffic data for the first five months of 2023, Dubai is the clear frontrunner in the region.

Dubai Airports will see around 40 million international departures this year, based on historic data between January and May this year and forecast traffic for the rest of the year. Doha is in second place with 20 million and Jeddah and Tel Aviv in joint third place with 12 million departures. Cairo and Abu Dhabi share fifth place with an estimated 9 million passengers in 2023. Kuwait, Riyadh, Sharjah and Addis Ababa complete the top 10 airports for international departures with between 6 and 8 million international departures, says the report.

It adds that the traffic data within the research reveals that Indians account for the highest number of international travellers when comparing the top nationalities departing on international flights across the region. It shows 21 million departing Indian passengers in 2023. Egypt follows with 16 million and Saudi Arabia completes the top 3 with 14 million passengers departing internationally. Pakistan and Israel follow in joint fourth position with 9 million departing passengers. France, the UK, Morocco, Bangladesh and Ethiopia complete the top 10 ranking for nationalities departing internationally across the Middle East and Africa, showing the very diverse composition of the traveller mix across the region.

The shopping behaviour analysis in the research shows that perfumes and confectionery were the two most visited categories in H1 2023 in airports across the Middle East and Africa. The research also shows that while Perfumes is still the number one visited category in the region, its numbers have fallen from 49 pc in H1 2017 to 41 pc in H1, 2023.

However, the report adds, confectionery on the other hand has seen a strong growth of 4 pc to 34 pc. Confectionery is also among the top four categories purchased by shoppers from the Middle East and Africa in H1 2023, alongside perfumes, souvenirs and tobacco.

While perfumes accounted for 22 pc of spending in H1 2023, both jewellery and watches and fashion take 12 pc, followed by alcohol with 11 pc.

Peter Mohn

“The research reveals some interesting behavioural trends and evolutions, including how footfall and conversion is performing across the region, the evolution of the passenger profiles and how these change the dynamics of the customer segmentation modelling for the Middle East & Africa. We see for example in Africa a rise in sustainable tourism and increasing sensitivity to sustainability among shoppers in the region,” says Peter Mohn, CEO and Owner of m1nd-set.

“Although shoppers across the region are significantly more likely to interact with the sales staff than they used to prior to the pandemic, this trend is on the decline, falling 6 pc since last year. It is vital that retail and promotional staff within the stores continue to engage with customers; engaged and engaging frontline staff are of paramount importance for converting browsers into buyers. It is equally important to ensure staff are continuously trained on how to interpret different shopper segments and understand their priorities and passions. The impact of staff engagement has consistently increased and is well ahead of where it was pre-pandemic, with 80 pc of shoppers reporting a positive impact of the staff interaction, compared to 62 pc before the pandemic,” says Mohn.