Riyadh- Initial statistics published by the information sector for The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf show that at least 25 million Gulf citizens have travelled within Gulf States in 2015. Gaining a dashing 89 percent increase compared to the 2006 statistics, which registered 13 million inter-Gulf travelers. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and UAE have ranked top as traveler destinations.

Regional visitors rocketed after border rules and residency regulations have been eased for citizens from the Gulf Cooperation Council states. Around 12 million Saudis benefited from eased border procedures, 4.4 million Omanis have seized the opportunities. Three million Kuwaitis and three million Bahrainis have used regional travel as well.

Statistics provided by the GCC General Secretariat showcased steady increase in the number of inter-regional private sector working citizens. At least 16,000 employees have been recorded working at a regional Gulf State in 2015.

Kuwait ranked first in being home to non-local Gulf nationals working in the private sector during 2015, at a rate of 66 percent, where the number of workers amounted to ten thousand employees.

Both UAE and Saudi Arabia ranked second and third respectively, in which the number of non-local Gulf workers reached 1,893 and 1,887 employees correspondingly. The number of workers in the Gulf state of Qatar recorded 959 employees. The number of GCC employees in Bahrain and Oman’s civil sector amounted to 512 and 163 respectively.