Tourism sector is a vital pillar of Dubai’s economy: Hamdan

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, attended Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism’s City Briefing, held on Thursday.

Sheikh Hamdan said the tourism sector is a vital pillar of Dubai’s economy and is playing a key role in achieving the goals of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Reiterating Dubai’s commitment to enhancing its status as a preferred global tourist destination in partnership with major international industry players, he said, “Dubai’s robust partnerships with leading travel and hospitality companies are key to fostering the growth of this crucial sector, both on a local and global scale. Hospitality is an integral part of the Emirati cultural fabric, a value deeply embedded in our ethos. Dubai remains dedicated to enhancing the infrastructure and services and making the strategic investments needed to provide an exceptional experience for visitors from across the world.”

The bi-annual City Briefing for stakeholders and partners, organised by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), further highlighted Dubai’s transformative role in championing the ongoing evolution of global tourism, in line with the city’s ambitious Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which seeks to consolidate Dubai’s position as one of the top three global cities for business and leisure.

Participants at this event, presided over by Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of DET, were also briefed on the D33 Agenda, the 10-year roadmap for Dubai’s development that was launched at the beginning of 2023 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The ‘City Briefing’ event, which deep dives into the latest destination developments and discusses the future outlook for the tourism industry, was attended by over 1200 industry executives and professionals. The new DET data released during ‘City Briefing’ demonstrates an overwhelmingly positive industry performance. With tourism sector growth in 2023 outperforming pre-pandemic results across travel and hospitality, Dubai welcomed a record 13.9 million visitors from January to October 2023 compared to 13.5 million during the corresponding period in 2019.

Key regions contributing to Dubai’s tourism successIn the first 10 months of the year, the GCC and MENA regions accounted for 29% of international inbound tourism to Dubai, with Western Europe contributing 19%, and visitors from South Asia totaling 18%. Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS contributed a combined 13% share of total visitation, a notable increase from the 8% achieved over the same period in 2019. North Asia and Southeast Asia contributed a further 8%, up from 4% in 2022.

Dubai maintains high hotel occupancy of 76%Average hotel occupancy between January to October this year has reached an impressive 76%, up from 74% in the same period in 2019. The achievement is particularly notable given Dubai has also recorded 13% and 22% increases in hotel establishment and room capacity respectively, since 2019.

According to the latest STR Global Hotel Monitoring Update, Dubai ranked 4th globally in occupancy, after other global destinations New York and London and ranking just 0.01% behind third-placed Paris. At the end of October 2023, Dubai’s hotel sector had grown to 149,076 rooms in 818 hotel establishments, compared to 122,185 rooms in 724 hotel establishments at the same stage in October 2019.

Dubai’s performance reveals that searches and bookings for Dubai in Q3 2023 surpassed pre-pandemic levels, which further evidences the city’s global appeal, as well as the range of choices available for visitors planning a trip to Dubai.

Top liveability hub: At the City Briefing, DET highlighted Dubai’s position as a top global liveability hub with a string of accolades reaffirming Dubai’s position as the best city in the world to visit, live and work in. In addition to being ranked the No.1 global destination in TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2023, Dubai was named as the world’s No.1 city to relocate to, based on a recent survey published by leading financial services provider Remitly.

Dubai was ranked the best city in the world for remote workers in the top 20 list of the 2023 Executive Nomad Index compiled by property consultancy Savills. The UAE was also named as the second safest country in the world in 2023 by Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries.

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, commented, “Our achievements in the first 10 months of 2023 indicate that we are firmly on track to achieve our goals in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to cement Dubai’s position as one of the top three global cities, as envisaged under the D33 Agenda.”