Dubai’s tourism sector started the year strong, welcoming 3.1 million visitors in the first two months. There are expected promising signs that tourism in Dubai may surpass the record of 16.7 million visitors in 2019.
In January, tourist numbers increased by 50 percent year-on-year, but remained 9 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to a note from Emirates Dubai Watti.
However, tourism in Dubai in February exceeded pre-pandemic levels with 1.63 million visitors, up 7 percent from 2019 and 35 percent year-on-year. Western Europe was the largest source of visitors, accounting for 22 percent of the total volume, followed by the GCC and South Asia, which each accounted for 16 percent. India was the largest source of tourists with 401,000 visitors in January and February, followed by Russia with 229,000, Oman with 201,000, the United Kingdom with 196,000 and Saudi Arabia with 183,000.
“We expect the number of visitors from China to Dubai to continue to rise throughout the year,” Emirates NBD said in the note.
The authors of the memorandum say that Dubai “has established itself as a huge global sector in the tourism and hospitality sector, and has become one of the most preferred destinations for tourists over the past decade. Dubai came second only to Paris in a report by Euromonitor that revealed the city’s top 100 destinations in 2022. A strong start to the year shows promising signs that tourism in Dubai could surpass the record of 16.7 million visitors in 2019.”
The tourism sector, an important pillar of the emirate’s economy, has rebounded strongly from the coronavirus-induced slowdown.
In 2022, Dubai recorded 14.36 million international visitors, approaching 16.73 million in 2019, according to statistics from Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism.
Read: Dubai’s medical tourism soars: 674K tourists spent AED992 mn in 2022
The Airports Council International (ACI) ranking this month also showed that Dubai International Airport remained the busiest international hub for passengers last year for the ninth consecutive year, with demand for long-haul travel on the rise.
Dubai Airports’ chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed announced in a tweet on Tuesday that the airport received 16,713 flights in March, marking a year-on-year increase of 23.7 percent and exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the same period.
“These impressive figures underscore Dubai’s role as a global hub for trade and travel and its resilience to economic challenges around the world,” he said.
Dubai Airports expects the number of passengers passing by the end of this year to reach 78 million, up from 66.1 million last year, as the UAE prepares to host major international events such as the Dubai Airshow and the COP28 climate summit.
Paul Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Airports, recently said: “We embark on a year full of challenges and new opportunities with great confidence and readiness. Three pillars are at the top of our list of priorities for 2023: passengers, employees and sustainability, which are key pillars to support our position as the world’s busiest international airport and maintain our position as a global aviation leader.”
Hotel occupancy returns to pre-pandemic levels
According to an Emirates NBD note, average hotel occupancy for January and February of 2023 rose to 84.4 percent, up 6.4 percentage points from the first two months of 2022 and 0.2 percentage points higher than in 2019, according to data from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
Although the length of stay for guests decreased from 4.3 nights to 4 nights on average and the average daily rate dropped by 2 percent to AED 623, average revenue per available room increased by 6 percent annually to AED 514 ($140), an increase of 19 percent over 2019, despite a significant rise in the supply of available rooms.
Total available rooms increased 7 percent year-on-year to 148,450. Five-star hotels accounted for the largest share of inventory at 34 percent, while four-star hotels accounted for 29 percent, and one-star to three-star hotels accounted for 20 percent.
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