How can the GCC turn its sports vision into year-round tourism?

The Gulf’s investment in sport has shifted perceptions. 
It has positioned the region as a capable host of global events and drawn millions of visitors in the process. But the question is no longer whether the region can attract attention. It’s whether that attention can translate into something lasting.

This report examines the opportunity to turn major sporting moments into a year-round visitor economy. It looks at how sport - when combined with infrastructure, policy and planning - can become a permanent driver of tourism, not a seasonal one.

It draws on examples from across the GCC and outlines what it will take to move from spectacle to strategy.

Inside the report 

• Market outlook: why sports tourism is growing faster than traditional travel

• Spending patterns and behaviour of the sports tourist

• Esports, women’s sport and active travel: new growth engines for the region

• Country case studies: what Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are doing differently 

• A framework for moving from events to experience-led destinations