Hospitality & Tourism job market in the Gulf
How many Hospitality & Tourism jobs are open across the Gulf, how many are new, who is hiring and which skills they want. Counted daily from employer career pages and job boards.
Browse Hospitality & Tourism jobsJobs open now
5,146
UAE 2,186, Saudi Arabia 1,520, Qatar 783
New jobs, last 30 days
4,753
Hiring trend vs the previous 30 days: +15%
Jobs closed, last 30 days
2,907
Filled, expired or taken down by the employer
Typical time a job stays open
27 days
Median, from posting to closing, 1,490 closed jobs
JobXDubai Hiring Index
New job postings each week from a fixed group of employers, against the four weeks from 3 August 2026 (= 100). The group never changes, so the index only moves when those employers hire more or less, never because we add a source.
Latest complete week
120
+27 points on four weeks before
New and closed jobs, week by week
Complete weeks only, for employers we were already tracking at the start, so a new source never looks like a hiring spike.
Employers stepping up, and slowing down
New jobs in the last 30 days compared with the 30 days before, for employers we have tracked throughout. Recruitment agencies and job boards are left out.
Posting more
- Rotana Hotels95 155
- W Hotels8 28
- Fairmont Hotels & Resorts0 17
- Hilton30 43
- Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts7 18
Posting less
- IHG Hotels & Resorts151 85
- Kerzner International116 66
- Jumeirah Group36 31
Skills employers ask for
The skills named most often in new adverts over the last 30 days. General soft skills are left out.
- 1Guest service670
- 2Inventory management494
- 3Food preparation483
- 4Food safety474
- 5Guest relations306
- 6Guest services288
- 7Food and beverage service283
- 8HACCP266
- 9Safety procedures245
- 10Hospitality244
- 11Cash handling242
- 12Portion control231
- 13Menu knowledge208
- 14Menu development206
- 15Quality control202
Rising fastest
Like-for-like change vs the previous 30 days, on at least 30 adverts.
- Food preparation+66%
- Food safety and sanitation+59%
- Food safety+46%
- Portion control+44%
- Kitchen operations+41%
- Guest service+36%
- HACCP+32%
- Quality control+30%
- Menu knowledge+30%
- Mise en place+27%
What employers ask for, and what CVs show
For each field: the skills named most in new adverts, and how often CVs uploaded to JobXDubai mention them (3,186 anonymous CVs). A CV mentions far more skills than an advert lists, so compare down each column, not across.
Hospitality & Tourism
| Skill | In adverts | In CVs |
|---|---|---|
| Guest service | 14% | 24% |
| Inventory management | 10% | 14% |
| Food preparation | 10% | 12% |
| Food safety | 10% | 33% |
| Guest relations | 6% | 21% |
| Guest services | 6% | 6% |
4,753 adverts, 156 CVs
Where competition for jobs is highest
Each field's share of the CVs uploaded to JobXDubai against its share of new jobs. Above 1 means more job seekers than openings, relative to other fields. Our CVs are a sample, so read this as a comparison between fields, not a count of applicants.
| Field | Share of CVs | Share of new jobs | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering & Technology | 39% | 17% | 2.4x |
| Finance & Accounting | 12% | 6% | 2.0x |
| Marketing & Communications | 7% | 3% | 2.0x |
| Human Resources | 5% | 3% | 1.7x |
| Sales & Business Development | 15% | 12% | 1.3x |
| Healthcare & Medical | 2% | 3% | 0.7x |
| Construction & Engineering | 6% | 12% | 0.5x |
| Operations & Logistics | 4% | 8% | 0.4x |
| Hospitality & Tourism | 6% | 18% | 0.4x |
What employers require
From the requirements in 5,146 open adverts. The typical ask is the median.
26%
ask for a degree
2
years of experience, typical ask
1%
ask for a driving licence
1%
require Arabic
Advertised pay, as employers state it
Only adverts where the employer published a salary (292 open jobs). Typical (median) monthly range, in AED, for fields with at least 30 such adverts.
| Field | Typical advertised range | Adverts |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitality & Tourism | AED 4k to 6.5k a month | 292 |
Adverts that state pay lean towards some employers and roles, so this is what advertised jobs offer, not what everyone earns.
What open jobs pay: our estimate
Most Gulf adverts don't state a salary, so these bands use our own estimate for each open job (the employer's figure when they give one). Individual estimates can be well off, so read this as the shape of the market, not a salary guide.
Open jobs by estimated monthly pay
- Under AED 5k37%
- AED 5k to 10k33%
- AED 10k to 20k23%
- AED 20k to 35k3%
- AED 35k and above4%
Estimate. 5,054 of 5,146 open jobs have a pay figure.
Adverts that state the pay
6%
Of jobs open now, the share where the employer published a salary. This one is a count, not an estimate.
Who the jobs are for
New jobs open to entry-level and junior candidates
44%
Last 30 days. The 30 days before: 38% (up 6 points).
New jobs reserved for GCC nationals
3%
Adverts that say the role is for Emirati, Saudi or other GCC nationals only. Last 30 days.
Most active employers
By new jobs posted in the last 30 days.
Where the new jobs are
New jobs in the last 30 days, by city.
- Dubai1,573
- Doha661
- Riyadh639
- Abu Dhabi479
- Manama219
- Muscat173
- Ras Al Khaimah149
- Kuwait City146
- Jeddah91
- Sharjah82
Use this data
Journalists, researchers and bloggers are welcome to quote, embed and chart these numbers. Please credit JobXDubai with a link to this page.
JobXDubai, "Hospitality & Tourism job market pulse", data as of 8 October 2026. https://jobxdubai.com/job-market/hospitality-and-tourism
Source: <a href="https://jobxdubai.com/job-market/hospitality-and-tourism">JobXDubai Hospitality & Tourism job market pulse</a> (data as of 8 October 2026)
Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit "JobXDubai" with a link to jobxdubai.com/job-market/hospitality-and-tourism.
How we count
- Jobs open now are live listings on JobXDubai: collected daily from employer career pages and job boards, checked for dead links, with duplicates removed.
- A new job is a listing we first saw within 14 days of its posting date, so an employer's backlog of old adverts never counts as fresh hiring.
- Trends compare like with like: only employers we were already tracking in that country before the period began. When we add a new source, its jobs count as open jobs but not as growth.
- We only show a percentage change on a big enough base: at least 300 new jobs in the earlier period (30 for a single field or skill, 15 for an employer). Below that, small numbers swing too much to mean anything.
- Pay bands are estimates. Most adverts don't state pay, so we estimate it per job. The share of adverts stating pay is an exact count.
- The Hiring Index counts new postings each week from a fixed group of employers we already tracked before its base period, against the average of its four base weeks (= 100). A field gets its own index once it averaged at least 30 new jobs a week in the base period.
- Requirements come from the requirements written in each open advert (years, degrees, licences, credentials, languages). Spellings of the same credential are merged.
- Advertised pay uses only salaries the employer published, never our estimates, and only where at least 30 adverts in a field state one.
- CV figures come from CVs uploaded to JobXDubai, including free CV checks, stored as anonymous statistics: the skills a CV mentions and a likely field. We never keep or publish the CVs themselves.
- Time open runs from posting to closing. It leaves out jobs from feeds where we retire adverts ourselves after a fixed age, which would otherwise make every field look the same.
- Tracking began UAE: July 2026, Oman: July 2026, Saudi Arabia: July 2026. Updated 8 October 2026.
Job market by field
- AI & Machine Learning
- Engineering & Technology
- Sales & Business Development
- Marketing & Communications
- Finance & Accounting
- Human Resources
- Legal & Compliance
- Operations & Logistics
- Product Management
- Design & Creative
- Data & Analytics
- Customer Support
- Healthcare & Medical
- Education & Training
- Construction & Engineering
- Real Estate & Property
- Executive & Management
- Administrative
Job market by city
Job market by role: hiring data for the 100 most common jobs, from accountants to sous chefs. Who is hiring: every employer with 10 or more open jobs.