Dubai: Dubai is steadily nudging up the ranks in the world’s top 10 travel hotspots and is well on its way to outrun New York in 2016 and Paris in 2017.
The latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index has ranked Dubai the seventh most popular destination globally and the leading country in the Middle East and Africa region. The index maps a pattern and growth of international travelers from at least 130 cities. Topping the list is Bangkok, followed by London, Paris, Singapore and New York.
Dubai has been edging up in the MasterCard list, moving from the ninth place in 2011, when the index started, to the eighth spot last year. This year, Dubai is outranking other popular places such as Milan, Rome, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hong Kong and Tokyo, among others.
“I think it is a foregone conclusion that in the next few years, Dubai will be among the world’s top five, with some luck, top three. The important thing to keep in mind is that Dubai is growing fast but many other destination cities are working very hard to grow fast as well,” Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, global economic advisor for MasterCard and author of the report, told Gulf News.
The city has the strongest growth in visitor arrivals at 10.9 per cent and is set to attract 9.89 million overnight visitors in 2013. Given the sheer volume of travellers stopping by Dubai every year and with Dubai’s Expo 2020 expected to boost visitor arrivals, Dubai has a “good chance” of earning the number one spot by the year 2020. “That would definitely give Bangkok a run for its money,” Wong said.
“Dubai has gone from strength to strength, and continues to develop its offerings as it plans to draw even more visitors in the coming years,” added Raghu Malhotra, MasterCard’s president for Middle East and North Africa.
Premjit Bangara, general manager of Sharaf Travel Services, attributed Dubai’s strong showing in the index to the government’s continued efforts to invest in tourism infrastructure, the expansion of its national carrier, Emirates airline, and the year-round events that promote Dubai as a shopping and exhibition hub, among others.
“Investment in tourism infrastructure has reaped dividends with record tourist arrivals into Dubai from 2000. Hotel projects were fasttracked during this period and today, we have every major hotel chain represented in Dubai with multiple brands in their portfolio,” Bangara told Gulf News.
Dubai is the favourite among visitors from London, Kuwait, Paris, Frankfurt and Doha, the top 5 “origin/feeder” cities for the emirate. Visitors from London are set to grow this year by 26.3 per cent, while those from Paris will expand by 16.9 per cent, Kuwait (12.4 per cent), Doha (9.5 per cent) and Frankfurt (9.4 per cent).
