Dubai’s tourism sector is predicted to reach levels not seen since 2019 by next year and a key driver behind the emirates’ success as a tourist and business destination is the UAE’s strong economic performance, says a report.
The remarkable post-pandemic performance of Dubai’s hospitality industry is a clear reflection of the UAE’s wider economic successes, said the Cavendish Maxwell report.
Despite the curveballs thrown by Covid-19 and recent global conflicts that disrupted travel worldwide, Dubai is defying the odds and emerging as the superstar of the tourism world.
In the first half of this year, a staggering 8.5 million globetrotters chose Dubai as their destination, breaking the city’s record for number of visitors. Fast forward to July 2023, and that number has surged to a jaw-dropping 9.83 million. Freshly released data by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism also reveals that in 2022, Dubai hosted 14.36 million international overnight visitors. By comparison, in 2021, just 7.26 million stayed overnight.
The city hasn’t just bounced back, it has soared past regional and global expectations. In fact, during 2022, Dubai reached 86 per cent of its pre-pandemic visitor levels, beating even the most optimistic projections by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation for international tourist arrivals in 2023.
While the rest of the world has been grappling with soaring inflation rates, the UAE has managed to keep things in check.
* Dubai is available on stand number S6-210