Dubai: World’s best holiday destination received 14.36 million international visitors in 2022

Dubai: World’s best holiday destination received 14.36 million international visitors in 2022

The emirate is closing in on its pre-pandemic visitation of 16.73 million in 2019

By A Staff Reporter Published: Sun 5 Feb 2023, 5:17 PM Last updated: Sun 5 Feb 2023, 5:45 PM

Dubai has doubled the number of international overnight visitors it welcomed in 2022 compared to the previous year. The emirate received 14.36 million visitors in 2022, growing 97 per cent year on year from the 7.28 million tourist arrivals in 2021, according to the latest data published by Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET).

With this, the emirate has closed in on its pre-pandemic visitation of 16.73 million in 2019.

Additionally, average hotel occupancy in 2022 stood at 73 per cent — one of the highest in the world — rising from 67 per cent in 2021. The figure is just short of the 75 per cent occupancy in the pre-pandemic period of 2019.

The latest statistics come weeks after the city's ranking as the No. 1 global destination in the Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2023 for the second successive year — only the second city in history to achieve the feat. The latest data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) shows that global tourist travel in 2022 was