Dubai receives 8.5 million visitors in first half of 2023, exceeding pre-Covid levels
Tourists enjoy a sunny afternoon at a beach in Dubai.
During the first half of the year 2023, the tourism sector in Dubai outperformed the levels before the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of the number of international visitors, for the same period of the years 2019 and 2018, reflecting its ability to deal with the challenges posed by Covid-19 on the tourism sector globally.
The city's hotels received more than 8.5 million international visitors during the first half of 2023, according to the latest data, compared to about 8.36 million international visitors that the city received in the first half of 2019, a growth of 1.7%, and the number of international visitors increased by 5%. Compared to 8.1 million international visitors during the first half of 2018.
The number of international visitors in Dubai hotels increased by 19.4%, compared to 7.12 million visitors during the first half of 2022, and a growth of 237%, compared to 2.52 million visitors in the first half of 2021, while the world was subjected to a crisis of closures in 2022 due to the outbreak of the epidemic.
6 indicators
The hotel sector in Dubai continued the path of recovery from the consequences of Covid-19, surpassing pre-Covid-19 levels in 6 indicators, including returns on available hotel rooms, average daily price, number of nights booked, length of stay, and hotel capacity and the number of hotel establishments.
First quarter
The first quarter of the year 2023 recorded the arrival of 4.67 million visitors to Dubai, close to the average for the same period in 2019, in which it recorded 4.75 million visitors, which is an outstanding achievement since the emirate opened its doors to international visitors in July 2020, despite the global economic downturn and its negative effects on the tourism sector.
However, the first quarter of this year was exceptional, and the emirate was crowned the best global destination in the 2023 Travelers’ Choice Awards from “Trip Advisor” for the second time in a row, and it is the second time in history that a destination has been ranked for two years in a row.
