Air travel during Ramadan and Eid al Fitr in most GCC countries is still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, with outbound travel during this period down 6% in the UAE and 44% in Saudi Arabia compared to 2019. However, inbound travel during this period has recovered faster, with Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain all seeing significant increases. Fastest growing destinations for those leaving the GCC during the period are the Maldives, Qatar, Thailand, Netherlands and Pakistan, while travel from Italy, Russia, France, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia to the GCC soared compared to pre-pandemic levels. Olivier Ponti, VP Insights at ForwardKeys, noted that a major factor in assessing the recovery of Ramadan travel is the festival’s timing, with Eid al-Fitr falling in June in 2019 compared to May this year. ForwardKeys data also showed air travel bookings leaving the GCC for the three weeks following the Eid period were 67% behind the equivalent period in 2019.