Dubai tourist arrivals more than double in H1

Dubai tourist arrivals more than double in H1

Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sector continued its recovery in June, with more than double the number of international visitors to the emirate than in June 2021. However the numbers were 15 % less than the H1 2019 levels,a report said.

In the first half of this year, 7.12 million people visited Dubai (staying at least one night), up 183% yoy, according to an Emirates NBD report.

India remains the largest source market in the first half of this year, having been briefly displaced from the top spot in February by Saudi Arabia. Oman was in second place followed by Saudi Arabia and the UK.

Pent-up demand in GCC states has resulted in a surge in visitors from within the region compared with H1 2021, when many travel restrictions were still in place. Russia is in fifth place, with 309,000 visitors in the first six months of the year. However, the number of visitors from Russia has declined since March, following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the report prepared by Khatija Haque said.

Hotel occupancy declined to 63% in June from 73% in May. For the first half of 2022, hotel occupancy averaged 73.5% in Dubai, only slightly below H1 2019 (75.1%) and