11% YoY increase in international overnight visitors to Dubai in Q1 2017

Dubai’s tourism sector sustained the momentum of its strong 2017 start, with the emirate’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) reporting a 11 per cent increase in overnight visitation in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2016. January to March 2017 saw 4.57 million travellers visit the city, reflecting more than double the growth achieved in the first quarter of last year. Among Dubai’s top 20 source markets for inbound tourism, China and Russia continued to top the growth trajectory charts with unparalleled 64 per cent and 106 per cent increases over Q1 2016, delivering 230,000 and 126,000 tourists respectively. Attributable in large part to the positive regulatory changes enabling citizens from both countries to obtain free visas-on-arrival in the UAE, this performance spike has resulted in both countries moving up in their rankings as key feeder markets for Dubai, with China at number four and Russia at number 11, edging closer to a return to the top 10. Retaining their stronghold on the top three positions were India, KSA and UK, accounting collectively for 30 per cent of total Q1 visitation to Dubai, with India becoming the first ever market to record nearly 580,000 visitors in any one quarter, with a massive 23 per cent growth in arrivals between January and March. Despite its 8 per cent drop over 2016, driven due to a backward shift in annual school holidays, KSA continued to drive volumes with 440,000 visitors, while UK rallied growth across the mega markets with its 5 per cent increase to mitigate the declines from KSA and Oman, which rounded off the top 5 with 214,000 overnight guests. The remainder of the top 10 all saw positive contributions, with Iran up a strong 39 per cent; Pakistan up 17 per cent; the United States up 6 per cent, posting a strong recovery over 2016 performance; Germany maintaining stability; and Kuwait bringing up the GCC contribution with a 10 per cent growth.