Dubai Attracted 5.5 Million Visitors in Half Year

More than 5.5 million tourists visited Dubai in the first half of 2013, representing an 11.1 per cent year-on-year increase, indicating that Dubai is on the way to achieving its Tourism Vision for 2020.

The first half visitor number results, released Sunday by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), show increases across all key indicators, including hotel establishment guests, hotel and hotel apartment revenues, room occupancy and average length of stay.

Announced earlier this year under the directive of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and spearheaded by DTCM, Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020 sets out how the city will double its annual visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020.

“The increase in visitors from each of our key source markets is particularly encouraging, with a number of these markets showing particularly strong growth, including the GCC countries, China, India, Australia and many countries in Europe,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of DTCM.

Dubai’s top 10 tourism source markets remained the same as those for the first half of 2012, with some slight changes in positioning, and reflect the diversity of visitors who are attracted to the city.

Saudi Arabia, India, UK, USA, Russia, Germany, Kuwait, Oman, China and Iran made up the top ten for January to June 2013.

Despite already being Dubai’s primary source market, Saudi Arabia experienced the most growth, with visitor numbers swelling by 31.6% to 710,472. Australia (ranked 13th) also recorded a sizeable rise in visitor numbers, with growth rates of 24.3 per cent reflecting the increased flight volume resulting from the partnership between Emirates Airline and Qantas, formalised in April.

The Netherlands entered the top 20 source markets for the first time, at number 20, with a 17 per cent increase in visitors.