Dubai tourism classifies just 2 percent of restaurants in the city as fine dining

Thursday, October 6, 2022

The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET)’s first official Gastronomy Report has published figures that say just two percent of the city’s restaurants should be classed as fine-dining establishments.

It means of the 13,000 F&B outlets in the emirate, 260 are considered fine-dining venues.

The figures come from researchers JLL, which says there are 340 fine-dining restaurants in the entire country.

In it, it confirmed the emirate is home to 13,000 restaurants and cafes.

It also cited data from JLL, which said that 80 percent of the 340 fine-dining restaurants in the UAE are in the UAE. This means there are 272 fine-dining restaurants in Dubai.

There’s no description or qualification for what JLL or the Gastronomy report classes as a fine-dining outlet, but it does say that this proportion is largely due to demand for fine dining options from international visitors to the city that also drive demand for casual dining and social and drinking options, underlining the expansive range and richness of brands offering such experiences across Dubai.

The inaugural Gault & Millau UAE guide, which focuses on fine-dining outlets, features 130 restaurants.

The study, which surveyed 16,000-plus respondents worldwide, concluded that Dubai ranked ahead of leading tourism peers Singapore and Istanbul for the variety of restaurants on offer, highlighting how the city’s F&B offering has dramatically evolved in recent years to cater for the diverse palates of its international visitors and foreign residents that hail from more than 200 countries.

The gastronomy guide includes Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Jumeirah, DIFC, Karama, Dubai Motor City and Dubai Studio City.

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