Dubai inches closer to pre-pandemic tourism numbers, welcomes 12.82 m visitors in first 11 months of 2022

Dubai inches closer to pre-pandemic tourism numbers, welcomes 12.82 m visitors in first 11 months of 2022

Dubai: The emirate of Dubai hosted 12.82 million overnight visitors in the first 11 months of 2022, up 112.96 per cent compared to the year-ago period, official government statistics revealed. Dubai’s January to November performance indicates a robust post-pandemic recovery, as its 11-month performance is just 3.9 million visitors short of its 2019 performance of 16.73 million. The emirate’s tourism sector has maintained strong performance in 2022 and picked pace in the final quarter after easing COVID-19 restrictions, with mega events such as the Fifa World Cup in Qatar adding to a surge in tourist numbers. At least 20 per cent of the visitors who arrived in Dubai from January to November this year were from Western European countries, and 17 per cent were from South Asian nations, Department of Economy and Tourism data showed. India, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Russia, and the US were some of the top-performing source markets. India was Dubai’s top source market in the first 11 months with 1.64 million visitors, up 106 per cent from last year. Average hotel occupancy rates were 72.6 per cent during this time, up 6.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021. Average daily room rates,