During the first five months of 2025, 8.68 million foreign visitors visited Dubai, a 7% increase over the 8.12 million visitors that visited during the same period in 2024.
According to the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism’s (DET) January–May 2025 Tourism Performance Report, 1.53 million foreign tourists visited the city in May alone. This expansion builds on the 18.72 million visitors the city saw in 2024, the second year in a row of record-breaking growth.
Western Europe leads growth in Dubai’s tourist numbers
With over 1.917 million tourists, or 22% of all visitors to Dubai, Western Europe topped the list of source markets. Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations came in second and third, respectively, with 1.396 million visits (16 percent).
With 1.242 million tourists, South Asia came in third place, followed by the GCC region with 1.275 million, which accounted for 15% of all visitors to Dubai. With 989,000 visits, the Middle East and North Africa finished in fifth, followed by Northeast and Southeast Asia with 771,000.
601,000 tourists came from the Americas and 346,000 from Africa. Lastly, 141,000 tourists from Australia arrived in Dubai during that time, accounting for around 2% of all foreign visitors.
Dubai’s hotels see rise in occupancy
In comparison to 822 hotels with 150,202 rooms at the end of May 2024, Dubai’s hotel industry has 825 establishments with 153,356 rooms by the end of May 2025. In the first five months of 2025, the average hotel occupancy rate was 83%, which was higher than 81% in the same period the previous year.
In the meantime, there were 19.09 million nights in occupied rooms overall, which is 4% more than the 18.34 million that were recorded in 2024. The average length of stay for tourists in Dubai was 3.8 nights. Compared to 2024, when the average daily room rate was AED590, it increased by 5% to AED620.
In the meantime, income per available room increased by 7% to AED513 from AED478 during the same time last year.
Data from the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) shows that during January to December 2024, 18.72 million foreign overnight guests visited Dubai, a 9 percent year-over-year growth that surpassed the previous high of 17.15 million in 2023.
The performance of the city was greatly influenced by hotels, whose consistent inventory increase balanced the needs of both visitors and hospitality stakeholders. In comparison to the 150,291 rooms at 821 establishments in 2023, Dubai’s hotel inventory at the end of December 2024 included 154,016 total available rooms across 832 enterprises.
The hospitality industry’s dedication to accommodating all spending levels and tastes is demonstrated by the AED538 Average Daily Rate (ADR), which increased only slightly from the AED536 ADR in 2023. In 2024, the Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) increased by 2% to AED421, up from AED415 the year before.
