Representative ImageEurope still commands a large share of high-end outbound travel from the Gulf, but wealthy travellers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and neighbouring markets are spreading their spending across a wider set of destinations. Japan is emerging as a notable beneficiary, while privacy, gastronomy, wellness and tailored experiences are reshaping what Gulf clients expect from a luxury trip.
The Gulf’s wealthiest travellers are not turning their backs on London, Paris or the Mediterranean. They are, however, looking farther afield — and spending differently when they get there.
Japan has emerged as one of the clearest beneficiaries of that shift, while the Maldives continues to draw affluent Gulf families seeking privacy and seclusion. Across Europe, meanwhile, spending patterns are moving towards France, Italy and Spain even as the continent retains its long-standing position at the centre of Gulf luxury travel.
For luxury hotels, destination marketers, tour operators and travel advisors, the commercial stakes are considerable. Mastercard’s Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective identified Saudi Arabia and the UAE as significant outbound markets for luxury travel. In its survey, 27% of Saudi respondents and 25% of UAE respondents were classified as luxury travellers. Mastercard has also projected that travel by Saudi and UAE visitors to Europe could be worth $13.2 billion by 2028, up from $7.4 billion in 2019.
Europe remains the main luxury corridor
The relationship between Gulf wealth and Europe has been built over decades. Property ownership, education, medical travel, shopping and family ties have helped make cities such as London, Paris and Geneva familiar territory for affluent visitors from the region.
That foundation remains intact.
Mastercard Economics Institute research examining Gulf travel spending found that the UK, France and Italy remained among the leading destinations for affluent GCC travellers. Yet the pattern within Europe has shifted since the pandemic, with Gulf spending gaining ground in France, Italy and Spain compared with the UK and Türkiye. That is significant for the luxury trade. The Gulf-Europe market is becoming less concentrated around a handful of traditional city addresses and more dispersed across Mediterranean resorts and secondary luxury destinations.
For affluent families, particularly those travelling in larger groups, southern Europe can offer a combination that city hotels struggle to replicate: villas, yachts, private chefs, chauffeur services and greater control over the travelling environment. Visa’s analysis of affluent international travel illustrates the size of the relationship. Affluent cardholders accounted for 65% of travel on the MENA-Europe corridor in 2024, making it the leading extra-regional route for affluent travellers from the Middle East and North Africa. Europe, then, is hardly losing the Gulf traveller. But it has more competition.
Representative Image
Japan moves onto the Gulf luxury circuit
Japan recorded the largest increase in destination spending among affluent GCC travellers in 2025, according to Mastercard Economics Institute data. The weaker yen helped. So did a travel product that increasingly matches what Gulf HNIs are looking for. Tokyo delivers luxury retail, high-end hotels and a formidable dining scene. Kyoto offers something di fferent: ryokans, cultural access and highly personalised touring. Ski resorts, wellness retreats and nature-led itineraries give advisors scope to take clients well beyond the standard Tokyo-Kyoto programme.
Spending by Gulf travellers has also increased in mainland China and Hong Kong, pointing to a broader appetite for Asian destinations rather than a Japan-only phenomenon. Visa has similarly found affluent travellers showing greater interest in Asian markets alongside established Western destinations.
For travel advisors, the opportunity lies in how Japan is sold. High-net-worth Gulf clients are less likely to be won by a conventional city package than by private guides, specialist dining access, exclusive cultural visits and itineraries built around several generations of one family. It also broadens the seasonal opportunity. Europe dominates much of the traditional Gulf summer calendar; Japan can compete for spring, autumn and winter travel as well.
Maldives keeps its edge on privacy
If Japan's appeal is partly about discovery, the Maldives succeeds for almost the opposite reason: it allows travellers to withdraw. Privacy has long been central to the destination's attraction for wealthy Middle Eastern families. Large villas, private pools, discreet service and the ability to keep a family group together without relying heavily on public resort areas fit neatly with the requirements of this market.
Visit Maldives’ Q1 2026 market analysis said the Middle East and GCC delivered 82,558 arrivals in 2025, an increase of 3.6%. Arrival numbers tell only part of the story. The tourism body describes Middle Eastern visitors as a high-value segment, often travelling in larger family groups and spending on private yachts, villa upgrades and exclusive wellness experiences.
Mastercard's research suggests that this preference extends beyond one destination. Some 27% of affluent travellers surveyed said they would pay more for villas and chalets in secluded locations, while 21% would spend more on luxury accommodation on private islands. For suppliers, privacy is no longer merely a service attribute. It is becoming part of the product being priced and sold.
Spending moves beyond the hotel suite
Luxury shopping remains deeply embedded in Gulf outbound travel, but the spending basket is widening. Mastercard Economics Institute found dining accounted for 18% of Gulf travellers' spending in 2025, compared with less than 12% in 2019. Bookings at four- and five-star hotels have also risen from pre-pandemic levels, particularly among affluent consumers.
Food is part of a broader move towards experience-led travel. Mastercard’s Travel Trends 2025 research identified gastronomy, wellness and nature among the travel motivations gaining prominence across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
This has consequences for margins as well as product design. The hotel room may still anchor the booking, but much of the incremental value can now sit elsewhere — in yacht charters, chefs, specialist guides, wellness programmes, sporting events and access to cultural sites normally unavailable to mass-market visitors. Travel companies able to assemble those elements around a single client or family stand a better chance of retaining the booking rather than supplying one component of it.
Gulf demand also exposes luxury markets to shocks
The value of Middle Eastern travellers becomes particularly visible when they disappear. London's luxury hotel sector felt that effect during the Iran conflict and related aviation disruption in 2026. The Financial Times reported that Maybourne, whose London portfolio includes Claridge's, The Connaught and The Berkeley, shifted marketing towards US and European travellers after demand from the Middle East weakened.
VisitBritain figures cited by the newspaper indicated that Middle Eastern bookings fell to around half their normal level in March. For hotels accustomed to high-spending Gulf guests, the disruption exposed the risk of depending heavily on a lucrative but geographically concentrated source market. It also showed why luxury operators are increasingly looking to diversify their customer base without diluting services designed around Gulf clients.
The competition for Gulf wealth widens
The next phase of Middle East outbound luxury travel is unlikely to be defined by one destination replacing another. London will continue to attract wealthy Gulf families. Paris, Switzerland and the Mediterranean retain advantages built over generations. The Maldives has an established proposition around privacy, while Japan is carving out a place in the luxury itinerary through culture, food and high-touch service.
What is changing is the breadth of choice. That puts greater pressure on destinations and suppliers to understand differences within the GCC rather than treating affluent Middle Eastern travellers as a single segment. Saudi, Emirati, Kuwaiti and Qatari clients can differ in family composition, booking behaviour, preferred travel periods and service requirements.
The commercial opportunity increasingly sits in those distinctions. For the luxury trade, five-star inventory alone will not secure the Gulf HNI. The stronger proposition is built around discretion, flexibility and access — and the ability to turn a familiar destination into a trip that cannot easily be replicated elsewhere.
