Middle East tourism growth: Short-term volatility and long-term gains

David Goodger is Managing Director, EMEA, Tourism Economics. He has been instrumental in developing the global model of tourism flows and spending, which covers 185 origins and destinations, and he continues to manage regular forecast updates. He also maintains an active role in new product development and consultancy work.

David Goodger is a Director within Tourism Economics and primarily concentrates on tourism demand forecasting and market sizing. He has also taken an active role in further model development for specific purposes, with an emphasis on examining the economic contributions of particular sectors and the impact of different policies. He has conducted a groundbreaking analysis of the business travel sector for the WTTC and the US Travel Association which estimates the return on investment of corporate spending on travel and he has developed models to define destination marketing allocations.

Since joining Oxford Economics in 2000, David Goodger has been involved in a wide range of forecasting and modelling activities. He has been part of the macroeconomic forecasting and the industrial forecasting teams contributing to both regular reports and specific client studies as well as assisting in the development of detailed forecasting and simulation models.

David was educated at the University of Bristol, England, where he gained a first-class degree in Economics with Statistics; and at the London School of Economics and Political Science, England, where he graduated with an MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics.

Aaron Goldring – a Senior Economist within the Tourism team of Oxford Economics – leads our forecasts for travel and tourism in the GCC region. Based in Dubai, Aaron splits his time between analysing trends in global and GCC tourism, projecting key travel metrics, and reporting on key developments that affect the outlook for travel and tourism. In addition, Aaron has worked extensively on bespoke consulting projects for industry stakeholders worldwide, including economic impact analysis for public and private sector clients in the Middle East. Aaron has been with Oxford Economics for 6 years and holds a first-class degree in Business Economics from Ulster University.