Dubai turns into world’s first most visited city

Friday, February 9, 2018

Dubai in 2017 had record number of strong 6.2 percent annual growth in terms of international visitation overnight. It was an increase of 5 percent witnessed in the previous year and pushing the momentum of emirates towards its 2020 target of attracting 20 million visitors every year at the beginning of the next decade.

As per the latest data issued by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), more than 15.79 million tourists visited Dubai in 2017, creating a new record for the emirate and highlighting the sustained strength and resilience of the region’s travel and tourism industry.

To quote Helal Saeed Almarri, His Excellency Director General, Dubai Tourism, “Under the visionary leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the emirate has continued to capture the share of the global outbound travel market, complemented by a significant increase in tourism-driven economic contribution to the country’s GDP. Our strong 6.2 percent growth in 2017 has allowed us to ramp up the pace towards meeting our 2020 targets, and we remain confident that our performance, backed by the continued strength of our partnerships across government and private sector stakeholders, will enable us to successfully attain our goals of becoming the number one most visited city as well as being the most recommended with the highest number of repeat Dubai loyalists.”

Last year India occupied the top spot, contributing 2.1 million visitors, turning out to be the first country in a single year to cross the 2 million mark.

The performance of the country showed a 15 percent annual growth and validated, among other factors, the achievement of Dubai Tourism’s current partnership with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in the multi award-winning #BeMyGuest campaign.

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