Dubai Continues to Achieve Strong Visitor Numbers – Tourist Sector Performance Report
Dubai has maintained robust visitor rates compared to the previous year, as revealed by the Department of Economy and Tourism in Dubai in its latest statistics on the performance of the tourism sector and the number of international visitors during the first ten months of the current year. The data demonstrated Dubai’s success in attracting 13.9 million international visitors between January and October 2023, compared to 11.4 million international visitors received by the city during the same period last year, representing an increase of approximately 22%. This is in contrast to 13.5 million visitors during the same period in 2019, showing a growth rate of about 3%, before the levels impacted by the “COVID-19” pandemic.
The data indicated that India topped the list of markets exporting international visitors to Dubai during the period between January and October of the current year, registering about two million international visitors. It was followed by the United Kingdom with over 954,000 visitors, Saudi Arabia with around 930,000 visitors, and Russia with 917,000 visitors.
In fifth place, Oman recorded approximately 860,000 visitors, followed by the United States with about 582,000 tourists, then China with around 522,000 visitors, Germany in eighth place with 453,000 tourists, Iran with about 333,000 visitors, and Pakistan with around 286,000 visitors.
Meanwhile, the total number of hotel rooms in Dubai reached over 149,000 by the end of October 2023 within 818 hotel establishments, compared to 144,700 hotel rooms within 790 establishments at the end of October 2022.
The average hotel occupancy rate in all operating facilities in Dubai was 76%, compared to 71% during the same period in 2022 and 74% for the same period in 2019.
Luxury “five-star” hotel rooms accounted for 35% of the total hotel market in Dubai, recording about 51,200 hotel rooms within 156 hotel establishments. They were followed by “four-star” hotel rooms with a 28% share, registering about 42,300 hotel rooms within 189 establishments. Hotels classified as “three-star” and “one-star” captured about 20% of the total hotel market, with a capacity exceeding 29,200 hotel rooms within 278 hotel establishments.
As for hotel apartments, they recorded more than 26,000 rooms within 195 establishments, accounting for 18% of the total hotel market in Dubai.
The guests’ average length of stay by the end of October of the current year was 3.8 hotel nights, compared to 4 hotel nights during the same period in 2022. The number of nights (rooms reserved) reached approximately 34.2 million overnight stays compared to about 30.4 million stays in the corresponding period, with a growth rate of about 12.5%.
Western Europe ranked first in terms of the source of visitors to Dubai, based on geographical region, accounting for 19% of the total number of visitors during the period between January and October 2023. It was followed by the South Asia region with about 18%, 16% for the Gulf Cooperation Council region, 13% for Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern Europe, in addition to the Middle East and North Africa region, and North and South East Asia with 8%. The Americas accounted for 7%, Africa 4%, and the Australasia region 2%.