Marketing: Definitely Not In A Bikini

A thousand years ago, boatloads of Middle Easterners regularly headed to the islands around the South China Sea. They sought rare spices, established settlements and eventually dominated several of the region's trade routes. Today, for more 21st-century reasons, Asia-Pacific countries are keen once again to establish themselves as a favorite destination for travelers from the Middle East. Now in lieu of pepper and cinnamon, these destinations lure visitors with shopping, spas and theme parks.

In this era of high oil prices, almost everyone in the business wants a share of vacation dollars from the Gulf. And in many parts of Asia, where tourism is seen as a key component of economic development, governments are aggressively courting those who bring the biggest bang for the buck. "Middle Easterners are affluent and they spend," says Belinda Yeung, the chief operating officer of Regal Hotels, which operates mainly in Hong Kong and on mainland China. "They are high-yield travelers because they stay in the better rooms, and come as a big group."

Malaysia, which styles itself as a modern Islamic society, was one of the first countries in the region to target Middle Easterners, launching a campaign more than a decade ago. Kuala Lumpur spread the word about such things as friendly visa policies, luxury shopping and the abundance of Halal food, prepared in accordance with Muslim dietary rules. The strategy worked: in 2000, Malaysia welcomed fewer than 60,000 visitors from the Gulf; last year, the figure topped 250,000.

Now Gulf travelers are beginning to venture farther afield. Annual arrivals of Middle Easterners to Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) countries—which include Australia, Canada, the United States and most of Asia—were up by 780,000 in 2007 compared to five years ago, a 60 percent increase attributable primarily to the Asia-Pacific region. John Koldowski, director of PATA's Strategic Intelligence Centre, notes "significant movements" into Asian destinations beyond Malaysia. Since 2003, Hong Kong's Gulf visitors have tripled, to nearly 170,000; tourism powerhouse Thailand has more than doubled its travelers from the Gulf, to 423,000, and Australia has seen a 150 percent increase, to 73,000. "We are expecting this trend to continue for a while at least," says Koldowski.

Visitors from the Gulf cite logistics, immigration policy and cultural sensitivity as the main factors determining where they vacation. It's no coincidence that travel to Asia has increased in tandem with the number of flights. "Arrival trends run parallel to what airlines are doing," says Austin Frost, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts' London-based sales and marketing vice president for the Middle East. Dubai's Emirates Airline had only two planes when it began in 1985. Now the company, estimated to become the world's biggest airline by 2015, flies to more than 100 destinations—17 of them in the Asia-Pacific region.

Another key motivator, says Koldowski, is eliminating "the hassles associated with getting visas." Malaysia, for instance, has been effective in trumpeting its visa-free policy for most countries with predominantly Islamic populations. After years of political and economic turmoil, Indonesia—the world's largest Muslim country—aims to increase arrivals from the Middle East by 50 percent, helped largely by a visa-on-arrival scheme for the citizens of Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.