Top trends: Price-conscious Dubai residents have been spending less yet dining out more

Top trends: Price-conscious Dubai residents have been spending less yet dining out more

Dubai’s culinary landscape witnessed a 61% year-on-year surge in restaurant outings in 2023, with 84% of diners opting for more budget-friendly bites, according to a new industry report by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). Findings of the second annual ‘Dubai Gastronomy Industry Report’ show that in 2023 the average number of visits by patrons to restaurants jumped to 2.9 times per week, compared to 1.8 times in 2022. This surge across the 13,000-odd restaurants and cafés in Dubai saw a clear bias for casual dining, with 84% preferring this option, while 75% opted for food courts as their top choice and 72% chose street food vendors. A growing enthusiasm for Dubai’s culinary ecosystem also saw 69% of UAE residents rating the city as the world’s leading gastronomy hub, with 52% preferring many of the premium dining options the emirate has on offer. Although diners did eat out more in 2023, inflationary pressures resulted in residents seeking out more cost-effective dining options, resulting in spending on meals falling to AED162 per capita in 2023, as compared to AED198 per capita in 2022. Gen-Xers, North and South East Asians, and Western expats spent the most while dining out, according