Interest in flights from the Gulf to Armenia accelerated sharply in the weeks after the country eased entry rules for GCC citizens and residents, according to fresh search and booking trends from Wego, one of the biggest global travel apps with a stronghold in the region.
Across the July–August 2025 window, searches from GCC origins to Armenia were up 158% year over year, while bookings rose 128% versus the same period in 2024.
A pre-policy baseline underscores the step change. In May–June 2025, GCC→Armenia searches were already ahead of 2024 but by a smaller margin, up 85% YoY, indicating the July policy shift coincided with a further acceleration in interest.
The surge is broad-based across the Gulf, with particularly strong momentum from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. City-pair rankings for July–August show Yerevan (EVN) drawing heavily from multiple origins, led by routes out of the UAE and Saudi Arabia:
- Dubai → Yerevan (DXB–EVN): Share 19% of GCC searches; +163% YoY
- Kuwait City → Yerevan (KWI–EVN): Share 16%; +280% YoY
- Abu Dhabi → Yerevan (AUH–EVN): Share 16%; +71% YoY.
- Riyadh → Yerevan (RUH–EVN): Share 10%; +197% YoY.
- Sharjah → Yerevan (SHJ–EVN): Share 9%; +212% YoY.
- Muscat → Yerevan (MCT–EVN): Share 6%; +62% YoY.
- Additional growth corridors included Doha → Yerevan (+240%), Bahrain → Yerevan (+205%), Jeddah → Yerevan (+171%), and Dammam → Yerevan (+161%). Some secondary Saudi origins posted even steeper gains (e.g., Medina, Al-Qassim) from a smaller base.
While demand expanded most from major UAE and Saudi gateways, Kuwait’s outsized jump stands out, placing Kuwait City alongside Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the top tier of origin cities by share. The combination of visa facilitation for Gulf residents and summer travel dynamics appears to have unlocked new demand across family, leisure and short-break segments, with spillover from nearby Gulf markets visible in the route set.
Price dynamics also reflect the momentum. Searched average fares rising to $263.85 in July–August (from the 2024 base) suggest tighter inventory on popular dates and a willingness among travelers to secure seats despite higher price points, typical of newly “opened” or simplified corridors.
Even so, Armenia’s positioning within four-to-five-hour flight times from much of the Gulf continues to make it competitive for weekend trips and extended stays.
It’s easy to miss the significance: visa policies commonly refer to citizenship, yet the July shift also targets residency status. That distinction is crucial in the Gulf, where a large share of the traveling population are expatriate residents who may hold passports that normally face tighter short-stay requirements.
By extending visa-free entry to GCC residents regardless of nationality, Armenia effectively unlocked friction for a much larger audience than a citizen-only waiver would reach. In Wego’s data, that change shows up as a sharp intent curve beginning in early July, with UAE gateways (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah) leading and neighboring origins in KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman also surging.
Methodology: Wego analyzed aggregated, privacy-safe search and booking trends for GCC origins to Armenia, comparing 1 Jul–31 Aug 2025 vs 1 Jul–31 Aug 2024, with a baseline 1 May–30 Jun 2025 vs 2024. Figures are expressed as percent changes and ranks; no personal data or airline/operator details were used.
