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“We should be more mindful of our travel destinations and the risks they entail”

by Timothy••55

“Emotional scenes at Brussels Airport in Zaventem as tourists from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha were able to embrace their families again”, Gazet van Antwerpen editor-in-chief Kris Vanmarsenille writes in her daily editorial of Monday 9 March. During the preceding weekend, Belgium repatriated citizens stuck in the Persian Gulf region, where the conflict between Israel plus the United States and Iran is being fought. 

“There may be criticism of the slowness of the Belgian response, but most of the ‘rescued’ tourists were so happy to be home that they didn’t make a big deal about it. And they certainly didn’t care about the money they had to pay for it. Yet, they were all immediately denounced on social media as spoiled, rich brats who should have shelled out a fortune for their expensive repatriation. Such accusations are unnecessary. It’s time to pause and reflect on this kind of travel”, Vanmarsenille argues.

“For many people, a trip to Dubai is hardly different from a trip to the French Riviera (Côte d’Azur). Tourists love to marvel at the luxury of the oil-rich states, but conveniently forget that they are located in the ever-unsettled Middle East. Moreover, the threat of war had been in the air for weeks. The oil-producing states aren’t an obvious travel destination these days. If you do go, you should at least consider that you won’t simply get home when you want”, Vanmarsenille continues.

“And you should realize that you’re incredibly lucky. So many people can’t flee and must continue to live in fear, in Dubai, but especially in Tehran and Lebanon. Hopefully, the adventure of the Dubai travelers and their families will also lead to a greater understanding of those who were able to escape the misery but had to leave their families behind.”

The rise of the Gulf as a global aviation hub and tourist destination

The emergence of the Gulf as a major centre of global aviation is a relatively recent phenomenon. Cities such as Dubai and  Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Doha in Qatar, and Manama in Bahrain have evolved within a few decades from relatively modest regional airports into some of the most important intercontinental transit hubs in the world. 

This transformation unfolded gradually from the late twentieth century onwards and was driven by a combination of geography, airline strategy, infrastructure investment and changing patterns in global air travel. At the same time, several of these cities developed into tourist destinations in their own right, reinforcing the growth of their aviation sectors.

Early aviation in the Gulf

In the early decades of jet aviation during the 1960s and 1970s, the Gulf played only a limited role in international air transport. Long-haul aircraft of the period often required refuelling stops between Europe, Asia, and Australia, and airports in the region occasionally served this purpose. 

However, the principal transit hubs between Europe and Asia were located elsewhere in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, notably in cities such as Beirut, Cairo and Tehran. These cities offered established aviation infrastructure and were more prominent centres of commerce and tourism. The Gulf States, by contrast, were primarily oil-based economies with limited tourism sectors and relatively small populations.

The birth of the Gulf hub model

The foundations of the modern Gulf aviation model were laid in the 1980s, most notably with the creation of Emirates in 1985. Backed by the government of Dubai, the airline was conceived as part of a broader strategy to diversify the emirate’s economy beyond oil and trade. 

Rather than relying primarily on local passenger demand, Emirates pursued a global hub strategy, using Dubai’s geographical position between Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia to attract transfer passengers. The development of Dubai International Airport into a large-scale international hub became central to this strategy. By the 1990s the airline was expanding rapidly, adding long-haul routes and positioning Dubai as an increasingly significant transit point between continents.

Expansion of Gulf airlines and airports

The model gained further momentum in the early twenty-first century as other Gulf States adopted similar strategies. 

Etihad Airways was founded in 2003, while Qatar Airways underwent a major expansion programme during the same period. These airlines, together with Emirates, developed extensive global networks designed primarily to carry passengers connecting between Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. 

New and expanded airport infrastructure supported this growth, including the opening of Hamad International Airport in 2014 and major expansions of airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. By the 2010s the Gulf had become one of the world’s most important aviation corridors, with millions of passengers passing through its airports each year on connecting journeys.

Geography and the logic of the hub

Geography played a decisive role in the success of this model. The Gulf lies roughly midway between Europe and much of Asia, making it an ideal location for airlines operating long-haul flights between the two regions. 

From hubs such as Dubai or Doha, airlines can reach most major European, African and Asian cities within a single long-haul flight. This allowed Gulf carriers to operate a hub-and-spoke system in which passengers from numerous origins converge at a central airport before continuing to their final destinations. The arrangement proved particularly effective for linking secondary cities that might not otherwise support direct intercontinental services.

Aircraft technology and large-scale hub operations

Advances in aircraft technology also contributed significantly to the viability of this system. Long-range wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 777, the Airbus A330 and later the Boeing 787 Dreamliner enabled airlines to operate long sectors between Europe, the Gulf and Asia efficiently. 

Some carriers, particularly Emirates, also invested heavily in very large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, allowing them to concentrate large numbers of passengers through a single hub. As a result, airports such as Dubai International became some of the busiest international airports in the world.

At the same time, Gulf airports were designed specifically to facilitate transfer traffic. Unlike many long-established European hubs such as Frankfurt Airport or London Heathrow Airport, which face capacity constraints, slot limitations and night-time curfews, airports in the Gulf were built or expanded with large transfer terminals and 24-hour operations in mind. 

This allowed airlines to schedule tightly coordinated waves of arriving and departing flights, minimising connection times for passengers.

European airlines caught off guard

European legacy carriers initially underestimated the significance of this emerging model. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways had traditionally organised their networks around national markets. 

Their hub systems relied heavily on passengers beginning or ending their journeys within their home countries, connecting through airports such as Frankfurt, Paris or London. It was widely assumed that successful long-haul airlines required strong local demand to sustain their networks. Because cities such as Dubai and Doha had relatively small populations, many analysts believed that airlines based there would remain limited in scale.

Instead, Gulf carriers demonstrated that a hub could thrive primarily on transfer passengers travelling between third countries. 

A traveller flying from Manchester in the United Kingdom to Bali in Indonesia, for example, might connect in Dubai, while passengers travelling between southern Europe and Southeast Asia could connect in Doha or Abu Dhabi. In many cases the majority of passengers passing through these hubs were simply transferring between flights rather than visiting the city itself.

Another factor that initially obscured the Gulf’s potential was the expectation that improvements in aircraft range would favour direct point-to-point services rather than large hubs. 

While long-range aircraft did enable more direct intercontinental flights, the hub model remained highly efficient when combined with large aircraft and extensive networks. Gulf airlines capitalised on this by operating frequent services linking dozens of cities across multiple continents.

The rise of tourism alongside aviation

Tourism gradually became an important complement to the aviation hub model. Dubai was the first Gulf city to develop a large-scale international tourism sector, promoting itself from the late 1990s onwards as a luxury shopping and leisure destination. 

Landmark developments such as the Burj Al Arab, the artificial island complex of Palm Jumeirah and the skyscraper Burj Khalifa helped attract global attention. The emirate also encouraged stopover tourism, allowing passengers connecting through Dubai to spend several days in the city before continuing their journey.

Other Gulf destinations followed similar but distinct strategies. Abu Dhabi placed greater emphasis on cultural institutions and landmark architecture, exemplified by the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island. 

Qatar combined its aviation strategy with international sporting and cultural events, culminating in the global visibility generated by the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Bahrain, which had historically hosted regional leisure visitors, developed its own niche through events such as the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

A new crossroads of global travel

By the 2010s and 2020s the Gulf had firmly established itself as one of the central nodes of global aviation. Airports in Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi handle tens of millions of passengers each year, many of whom are travelling between continents rather than visiting the region itself. At the same time, the cities hosting these hubs have successfully cultivated tourism sectors that attract millions of visitors annually. 

The combination of geographical advantage, ambitious state investment and innovative airline strategies has thus transformed the Gulf from a peripheral region in the early jet age into a pivotal crossroads of global air travel.

Prices 

“For many people, a trip to Dubai is hardly different from a trip to the Côte d’Azur”, Vanmarsenille writes. 

Well, it’s not (much) more expensive. It might even be cheaper. You get a lot of entertainment for your money, the sun wíll shine. And it’s newer and more exciting than tired tourism infrastructure around the Mediterranean Sea, i.e. France, Italy, Spain. I mention those because these are the countries people my age visited as children and teens. 

My ten-day trip to Bangkok in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, flying via China, will not not be much more expensive than my three-day getaway to Nantes in Loire-Atlantique in the spring. I planned a week in Norway in the summer, but a friend bailed out. I’lm considering Taiwan instead. That will not be pricier. Although I’mm likely push back Taiwan to later in the year. 

Knowledge and awareness

“We should be more mindful of our travel destinations and the risks they entail”, is Vanmarsenille’s headline. Many people aren’t. 

Knowledge of the world we live in and awareness of current affairs are in decline. Following mainstream media is in decline, and thus watching the news or reading mainstream newspapers – on paper or on line – are in decline. 

People cut (tv) cable and stream more. People listen less to radio stations but stream. Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, podcasts, etc. 

I know why: it’s nice not to be dependent of a programming schedule and streaming tailors to interests. But the flip side of tailored content is a decline in general and current affairs knowledge and awareness. 

When I see in my entourage and my pink bubble how many LGBTQIA+ people travel to countries with state-sponsored homophobia, I’m baffled by the lack of awareness. But ILGA-Europe, ILGA World, Wikipedia and your Ministry of Foreign Affairs offer travel advice and knowledge.

Fifteen to twenty golden years are over

There was a relatively brief Golden Age of Easy Travel If You Are Strong Passport Holder. Advancing travel and tourism infrastructure, the convenience of online booking, countries loosening travel document (visa) requirements and competitive prices made exotic travel easy. 

I reckon that era started at the end of the naughties and lasted until COVID-19. A pandemic, Russia invading Ukraine, Israel v Palestine, Thailand v Cambodia, American politics, overtourism, re-tightening of travel document (visa) requirements are ending this Golden Age. 

My Trip By Trip co-author and I booked a cruise in the Caribbean Sea, next year. Will tensions surrounding Cuba put a spanner in the works? We can only follow up. 

You can only educate yourself and know where you are going, really. 

LGBTQIA+ and travel

🇧🇪 Blogger, keen vexillologist, train conductor NMBS/SNCB, traveller, F1 follower, friend of Dorothy.

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