According to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), the city welcomed 4.67 million foreign guests in Q1 2023, increasing 17% YoY from 3.97 million visitors during the same period in 2022. This puts the city on course to overtake the United States as the most popular international travel destination. This is the city’s best Q1 performance since the epidemic.
The expansion is essential to fulfilling the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, unveiled earlier this year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai. The agenda aspires to firmly establish Dubai as one of the top three cities in the world.
H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council said, “The remarkable growth in international visitation achieved by Dubai in the first quarter of 2023 demonstrates the city’s emergence as one of the key destinations leading the way in the rebound of the global tourism sector. This achievement has been made possible by the far-reaching vision of the leadership to transform Dubai into one of the world’s fastest-growing metropolises and the globe’s pre-eminent hub for travel, talent, entrepreneurship and investment. The Dubai Economic Agenda recently launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid charts an ambitious new path for Dubai to enhance its contributions to shaping the future of the global economy. The tourism sector is not only the strongest pillar of our economy but also a key enabler of Dubai’s distinctive role in the world as a bridge between markets, cultures and regions. In the years ahead, Dubai will continue to introduce new pathbreaking initiatives to offer a distinctive proposition for travellers and achieve its goal of becoming the world’s best place to live, visit, work and invest in.”
The United Nations World Trade Organisation had predicted that international tourist arrivals would reach between 80 and 95 per cent of pre-pandemic levels this year, especially in Europe and the Middle East. However, the most recent industry results, which were revealed at the ongoing 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai World Trade Centre, place Dubai as the destination that is recovering the fastest globally, reaching 98 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in Q1 2023.
A remarkable achievement since turning the tide in July 2020 by reopening the city to international tourists, and in spite of current global economic headwinds, was the number of visitors in Q1 2023, which fell just two percentage points short of the pre-pandemic volume of 4.75 million tourists that arrived in Dubai in the first three months of 2019. The sector’s achievement also marked the culmination of a stellar first quarter for Dubai, which saw the city named the top worldwide destination once more in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2023. This is only the second occasion in history that a city has received the prestigious award for two years in a row.
Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, commented, “Q1 2023 has set us off on a very strong trajectory for the year and is driving us closer towards realising the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai to make Dubai the most visited and re-visited destination. The positive industry performance is an endorsement of our well-defined strategy and a testament to the unwavering support of our tourism industry partners and stakeholders. The coming decade will see our industry going through extraordinary phases of transformation, in terms of infrastructure, technology, attractions and experiences, as we focus on achieving the goals of the Dubai Economic Agenda 2033.
“To maintain Dubai’s global appeal as the first-choice destination for travellers, we will continue to follow the multi-pronged blueprint that largely contributed to our success in 2022 – evolving the destination promise, a multi-geographic approach to markets, constant international outreach through global campaigns, hosting international MICE, business and leisure events, and further improving stakeholder relationships. As we look ahead to further accelerating momentum in our tourism sector, the pillars of sustainability, gastronomy, trade, and technology will form the foundation of our future success. Notably, this year is declared as UAE’s ‘Year of Sustainability,’ marking a major milestone for us, as the city prepares to host COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference. Sustainability will form the core of all that we do, incorporating sustainable practices into every aspect of the visitor experience to advance our journey towards becoming the world’s best city to live and work in,” Helal Almarri added.
The effectiveness of the city’s diversified multi-geographic approach is further demonstrated by the fact that Dubai’s traditional source markets continued to have a positive impact on foreign visitors during the first quarter of the year. The top region was made up of the GCC and MENA, which together contributed to 29% of total volumes, demonstrating the city’s continued attraction to visitors from nearby markets. South Asia accounted for 16 per cent of all international visitors, followed by CIS and Eastern Europe at 15 per cent, the Americas at 7 per cent, North Asia and South East Asia at 6 per cent, Africa at 4 per cent, and Australasia at 1 per cent. Western Europe accounted for 22 per cent of tourist arrivals.
While four regions have fully recovered and surpassed Q1 2019 levels—CIS and Eastern Europe (48 per cent vs. Q1 2019), MENA (32 per cent vs. Q1 2019), the Americas (9 per cent vs. Q1 2019), and Australasia (2 per cent vs. 2019—the majority of the regions have shown significant increases in Q1 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. In terms of tourism volume, South Asia and Western Europe are both almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
Performance at hotels in Dubai increased significantly in the first quarter of 2023. The industry’s average occupancy from January to March was a remarkable 83 per cent, ranking among the highest in the world and nearly matching the 84 per cent occupancy seen in Q1 2019. Given a 26 per cent increase in room capacity since then, this accomplishment is particularly noteworthy. The city’s hotel sector had a total of 148,877 rooms in 814 hotels by the end of March 2023 as opposed to 118,039 rooms in 717 hotels in 2019. The first quarter of 2023 saw a 6 per cent growth in the overall number of hotels and rooms compared to the same period in 2022, thanks in part to continued local and foreign investment in the industry.
All other hospitality measures for the hotel industry performed better than they did before the outbreak. The total number of Occupied Room Nights given by Dubai hotels during the first three months of the year was 10.98 million, an increase of 27% YoY from the 8.63 million Occupied Room Nights recorded during the pre-pandemic period of Q1 2019. ADR for the first three months of the year increased by 22% to AED607 from AED498 in 2019, while RevPAR for the same period increased by 21% to AED504 from AED417 in the year’s pre-pandemic period of 2019.
The average length of stay by tourists grew to four nights from 3.5 nights, a 14 per cent rise over the same period in 2019, underscoring the city’s allure for longer-stay visitors and demonstrating the hotel industry’s strong performance.
Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said, “Inspired by our visionary leadership, we have made tremendous strides in our efforts to position the city as a must-visit destination through celebrity-led and digital-first global campaigns in parallel with initiatives that increase accessibility, minimise barriers to travel, and make it as seamless as possible for travellers to visit Dubai. We express our sincere appreciation for the steadfast support from all our stakeholders and partners who relentlessly strive to uphold our city’s position as a top-tier travel destination globally. Their commitment to our shared vision is instrumental in maintaining our city’s global reputation and for the steady inflow of international visitors. We will continue to work with them to develop innovative and unique tourism products and experiences that will further amplify the appeal of our city as the top consideration for both first-time and repeat business and leisure travellers. With global travel undergoing a paradigm shift in terms of visitor expectations and experiences, we are making every effort to ensure Dubai performs even better in 2023 and beyond to remain ahead of the curve in a highly competitive global tourism landscape.”
In order to strengthen its presence and emerging markets, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism is constantly looking for new chances for growth in both domestic and foreign markets. The cornerstones of Dubai’s tourism strategy are sustainability, cuisine, trade, and technology, and DET is concentrating on unconventional tourism channels to draw tourists.
During the hosting of major international events like COP28, the Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative, which aims to improve the sustainability of the tourism sector and contribute to broader clean energy and sustainable development objectives, will be highlighted. DST will additionally prepare Dubai to serve international tourists looking for genuine regional experiences that support sustainable lifestyles. Since its start in February 2022, the Dubai Can initiative, which promotes the use of reusable bottles, has already helped to cut the usage of single-use plastic water bottles by over 7 million.
As Dubai promotes growth in the hospitality and food and beverage industries, DET is also enhancing its Gastronomy Always on Campaign. Dubai is growing in popularity as a location for start-ups, international talent, and businesspeople due to its infrastructure and support systems for businesses.
MICE, corporate, and leisure events in Dubai have benefited from the city’s status as a top worldwide event destination. The Dubai Shopping Festival, Art Dubai, Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Dubai Duty-Free Tennis, Dubai World Cup, Dubai International Boat Show, World Government Summit, and Gulfood, the largest annual food and beverage show in the world, are just a few of the major events taking place in Q1 2023.
Through initiatives like the Golden Visa, 5-year Multi-Entry Visa, Virtual Working, and Retire in Dubai programmes, Dubai is lowering entry barriers and encouraging long-term affiliation with the city in order to facilitate growth further. Due to the presence of prestigious international universities in the area, Dubai also gives parents a selection of high-quality educational options for their kids. These actions have improved the pro-business environment in Dubai, making it a desirable location for multinational corporations, family offices, international talent, entrepreneurs, inventors, and investors.