New initiatives, entertainment offerings keep Dubai's tourism appeal high!

Dubai welcomed 11.58 million visitors in the first nine months of 2018, up from the same period last year.

• Traditional source markets India, Saudi Arabia and UK continue to drive sector's growth.

The Dubai tourism industry maintained its steady growth in the first nine months of this year, driven by traditional source markets India, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

According to Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Russia, China and Germany witnessed strong double-digit growth as the number of visitors reached 11.58 million compared to 11.57 million in the same period last year. Though the growth was small, it was steady considering the geopolitical situation and overall economic slowdown in some parts of the region, as well as the stronger dirham against Asian markets.

Tourists from India dipped marginally to 1.469 million while visitor arrivals from Russia grew 60 per cent year-on-year to 460,000. Chinese visitors jumped 12 per cent to 641,000, while German tourists grew 15 per cent to 388,000 during the nine-month period.
According to official figures, around 20 per cent of overnight visitors came from Western Europe, 19 per cent from the GCC, 17 per cent from South Asia, 11 per cent from Southeast Asia and 10 per cent from the Mena. Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe accounted for 7 per cent while the Americas showed a slight increase to 7 per cent. Africa also witnessed a marginal growth to 6 per cent and Australasia maintained 2 per cent.

Helal Almarri, director-general of Dubai Tourism, said the first three quarters of 2018 have seen consistent interest from conventional feeder regions, complemented by some noteworthy spikes in high-volume drivers and strong growth in more emerging markets as Dubai continues to actively target a diversified global base of travellers.

"With 11.58 million tourists to date this year, we have maintained our position as the fourth most-visited city in the world according to the 2018 MasterCard Global Cities Index, and will continue to work towards delivering stability throughout the fourth quarter despite wider macro-economic challenges," Almarri added.

Industry analysts and executives believe that the emirate is on track to grow it ranking among the most-visited cities.

Christopher Lund, head of hotels at Colliers International Mena, said in 2017, Dubai was ranked by Mastercard the fourth most-visited city in the world by international tourists, after Bangkok, London and Paris.

"We expect Dubai to jump to third place in 2020, and second place in the 2021-23 period. Dubai is on the way to becoming the most-visited city in the world, which we estimate could happen sometime before 2030. The emirate is well on track to achieve this goal by developing its tourism infrastructure [airlines, airports, ports, metro), lodging accommodation [hotels, resorts, hotel apartments, vacation homes] and tourism offerings [integrated resorts, theme parks, landmarks, new shopping concepts, etc]," Lund said.

Ali Ozbay, director of marketing at Shaza Hotels, believes Dubai will definitely be up for this ambitious mission to become the most-visited city. But in order to achieve this task, the emirate has to attract 25 million-plus visitors a year by 2025.

"Dubai is seeking to develop an economy less dependent on fossil fuels, more on the variety of experiences to keep tourists coming," Ozbay said.

Ammar Kanaan, group general manager of Central Hotels, says the extent of development that the emirate has seen is absolutely incredible but there are still a lot of things that have to be done in various sectors to achieve its goal of being the most-visited city.

"This is not only related to the availability of rooms or accessibility of the destination, or connectivity by airlines, or the great infrastructure. There needs to be unique selling points to attract different markets and people from all over the world. Whether it is leisure, business, MICE, wellness, medical, educational or mass tourism, requirements of all segments have to be met at an affordable price," he added.

Kanaan said there needs to be facilities and attractions tailored to each and every segment that will drive new business as well as bring repeat visitors.

"Dubai is moving very well in the direction of smart cities, smart transportation, smart shops, smart activities and it is the way forward to attract the new generation. That will bring in more visitors here. When it comes to exhibitions there is a need for bigger exhibition halls and the facilities being developed for Expo 2020 will be perfect to meet that demand," he added.

Ursula Chidiac, general manager of Studio M Arabian Plaza, noted that Dubai has been gaining more recognition as a global leisure and business destination because of its well-preserved classic Arabian charm coupled with luxurious modernity.

"Dubai has been also gaining recognition as the go-to destination for business travellers, or for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) due to its prime location, modern infrastructure and luxurious accommodation," Chidiac said.

Waldi Al Awa, general manager of Tamani Marina Hotel, said smart city initiatives such as Hyperloop One and flying taxis will lead to an increase in visitor numbers who would come to emirate to experience the highest technology in transportation and smart attractions here.

Going forward, Dubai Tourism expects initiatives such as the recently-introduced stopover visa, which exempts transit passengers from all entry fees for the first 48 hours of their stay; visa fees waiver for visitors aged 18 years and below when accompanied by an adult; and multi-entry visa for cruise tourists will be key drivers of the growth.

By the end of September 2018, Dubai had 706 establishments, an increase of 4 per cent, offering 112,381 rooms, a growth of 6 per cent. Average occupancy for the hotel sector stood at 75 per cent as hotels delivered a combined 21.89 million occupied room nights during the first nine months.