The tourism sector in the UAE experienced a qualitative leap in results and indicators, confirming the country’s recovery from the pandemic and entry into a new phase of growth and prosperity.
The UAE has strengthened its position on the global tourism map through continuous efforts to develop the national tourism sector, becoming one of the most important global tourist destinations, ranking among the top international 10 in several global competitiveness indicators related to tourism, travel, and hotel sector in 2021.
During the first quarter of 2022, hotel establishments in the country attracted approximately 6 million visitors who spent 25 million hotel nights, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2019, i.e. more than pre-pandemic rates and the average length of stay for hotel establishment guests. A 25 percent increase during the same comparison period, rising from 3 to 4 hotel nights, and the country’s occupancy rate of hotel establishments during this period reached 80 percent, one of the highest rates in the world.
Hotel establishments earned 11 billion dirhams in revenue during the first quarter of this year, a 20 percent increase over the same period last year, and these establishments returned to work with their full capacity of approximately 200,000 hotel rooms.
At the level of flights and hospitality, the number of passengers passing through the country’s airports reached 20 million during the first quarter of 2022, up from 8.6 million during the same period in 2021, a 135 percent increase. The number of transit passengers out of the total travelers passing through the country’s airports reached 20 million. Approximately 7 million passengers were carried during the first three months of this year, representing a 203 percent increase over the same period last year.
The travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP has increased by 3.4 percent over the last three years to 15 percent, up from 11.6 percent in 2019.
These pioneering indicators reflect the growing confidence in the national tourism sector and the pioneering reputation attained by UAE’s tourism environment, whether at the domestic or international tourist and visitor levels. They also confirm the effectiveness of the country’s sustainable tourism policies, as well as the success of initiatives, campaigns, and exhibitions that benefit the tourism sector and its continuous improvement, the strength of the national tourism product and the state’s leading services, appealing tourist destinations, and advanced tourism infrastructure.
The domestic tourism strategy complements and supports the national strategy for tourism development in the country, given its prominent and important role in increasing the volume of tourism investments and tourism income, which contributed to promoting the growth of the tourism sector. The sector witnessed an increase in the share of domestic spending on domestic tourism during 2020, which amounted to 33 percent, compared to 67 percent for international spending, compared to 22 percent in 2019, and 78 percent for international tourism.
