Dubai: Dubai attracted more than 14 million visitors in one year, making the city one of the most visited destinations in the world, according to the latest data released by Euromonitor International.
The market research firm, which ranks cities according to international visitor arrivals, named Dubai as the seventh most popular city for travellers, with total guests reaching 14.2 million in 2015, up by 7.6 per cent from a year earlier.
Dubai is the only city from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region to feature in the top 10 or 20 rankings and is outperforming other tourist hotspots like New York, Rome and Miami.
Hong Kong remained the top city destination in the world for the seventh consecutive year, with 26.7 million international visitors as measured in 2015.
Bangkok overtook London as the world’s second most visited city, with 10 per cent jump in international arrivals.
London moved down to the third spot in the global ranking but remained the top European city destination.
Euromonitor said that the travel industry continued to face some challenges, including terrorist attacks, geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty, but the ten best performing cities remained resilient.
“Top cities outperformed global travel flows, registering growth of 5.5 per cent in international arrivals compared to 2014, showing the resilience of global cities as travel destinations,” said Wouter Geerts, Euromonitor International travel analyst.
The top 10 most visited cities/ visitor arrivals
1. Hong Kong: 26.7 million
2. Bangkok: 18.7 million
3. London: 18.5 million
4. Singapore: 16.8 million
5. Paris: 15 million
6. Macau: 14.3 million
7. Dubai: 14.2 million
8. Istanbul: 12.4 million
9. New York: 12.3 million
10. Kuala Lumpur: 12.1 million
Source: Euromonitor
