TravTalk Middle East Online Magazine
In recent reports India, KSA and the UK maintain their status as Dubai’s dominant traffic generators with Oman and China continuing their impressive double-digit trajectory, propelling GCC and Asian region visitation. Dubai welcomed 12.08 million international overnight visitors in the first nine months of 2019.
The latest visitation figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) states a surge in arrivals over the summer months accelerated Dubai’s tourism momentum, as the city welcomed 12.08 million international overnight visitors in the first nine months of 2019. The strong 4.3 per cent increase in volume growth compared to the same period last year was supported by highly participatory contributions from both traditional and emerging markets. The positive performance, which drew over 1.23 million visitors to the city in September, an above market average increase of 7.3 per cent over the same month in 2018, coincided with Dubai being ranked the fourth most visited city in the world for the fifth year in a row in Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index 2019.
Dubai Tourism’s multi-dimensional market-specific strategies, and customised campaigns continued to yield tangible results particularly showcasing the city’s ability to reinvent itself and remain ‘top-of mind’ to both new and repeat audiences across regular strongholds – India, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and Oman. Together with China that remained the world’s largest tourism volume driver, these five leading feeder countries surpassed the 5 million threshold for the first nine months of 2019.
India retained its position as Dubai’s leading source market, with over 1.39 million visitors during the first nine months of 2019, reaffirming the effectiveness of various innovative promotional activities launched by Dubai Tourism. There was an increase in travel share of Indian families with children by a substantial 13 percentage points from 32 to 45 per cent during the nine-month period in 2019 over the same period last year. Solidifying its position as the highest traffic volume generator for the GCC, Saudi Arabia registered a two per cent year-on-year growth for over 1.25 million visitors.
UK remained Dubai’s third largest source market with 851,000 visitors. Dubai retained high demand from families with children, one of the focus segments of the tourism strategy in the UK, accounting for 25 per cent of the share during the first nine months of 2019, up by five percentage points compared to the same period in 2018. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said, “The ongoing consolidation in traditional strongholds and a concerted outreach in tapping the vast potential in emerging markets, yielded further dividends especially at a regional-level across Europe and GCC, in addition to the very encouraging performances from our Asian and African markets. As we head into 2020, our efforts will remain focused on attracting new, first-time and repeat visitors from emerging, as well as established markets, to ensure that Dubai stays at the forefront of the world’s widely recommended travel destinations.”
