Dubai visitor numbers surge 134%

Dubai visitor numbers surge 134%

The pace of Dubai’s tourism growth gathered momentum in the final quarter of 2022, with the number of visitors in the emirate surging by 134% in the first ten months of the year.

Between January and October this year, visitor numbers in the emirate reached 11.4 million, more than double the 4.88 million recorded in the same period last year, research by Dubai’s largest lender by assets, Emirates NBD, showed.

While visitor traffic had grown dramatically, the numbers are still 15% below what was recorded in 2019, which was 13.5 million.

The bank said the 15% difference in visitor numbers between 2022 and 2019 has been consistent throughout the year, as the global travel industry has yet to fully recover from the effects of the pandemic.

China, which was one of the five-largest source markets for the emirate prior to the pandemic, has seen very limited outbound tourism due to its zero-COVID strategy, the bank said.

“However, there are signs that these restrictions will continue to be eased in the coming months, which should provide a boost to tourism numbers in 2024,” the bank said in a research update published this week.

Top source markets

India was the top source market in 2022, with 1.4 million visitors,