Dubai: The travel and tourism sector lead a welcome upturn in Dubai's private sector sentiments during November, signalling the possibility of a run that could extend well into the next three months.
The wholesale and retail sector is also getting a leg up from the seasonal spike while returns for construction only had modest growth, according to the latest Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker Index.
"At 55.2 in November, up from 53.2 in the previous month, the seasonally-adjusted (increase) signalled the strongest improvement in business conditions since August,” it reported.
This was after the six-month low recorded in October.
There were also slight gains in employment levels in November, but the rate of job creation remained weak in comparison to “trends seen prior to mid-2015".
“Sector data indicated a return to jobs growth in travel and tourism and wholesale and retail, but construction companies reported a drop in staffing levels for the first time since June,” it added.
“The Dubai Economy Tracker signals a faster rate of expansion for non-oil firms in Dubai in November, and this seems to have been led by the travel and tourism sector," said Khatija Haque, Head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD.
"The introduction of visas-on-arrival for Chinese nationals (announced in September) may have contributed to the growth in this sector over the last couple of months.”
