Nearly 5 million people visit Dubai in three months; visitor arrivals up 2% in first quarter

dubai tourists — Dubai tourists Image Credit: File photo

Dubai: The popularity of Dubai as a tourism destination continues to rise, with close to five million people visiting the emirate in just three months, the latest statistics showed.

From January to March this year, the city recorded 4.75 million international overnight visitors, up by 2 per cent from the guest numbers recorded a year earlier, according to the data released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce and Marketing (Dubai Tourism).

The rise in tourist traffic to Dubai was recorded even as passenger numbers arriving at the city’s airport took a slight dip at 2.2 per cent during the same period.

Dubai Airports reported on Sunday that 22.2 million flyers passed through Dubai International Airport during the first quarter of 2019.

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India remains the biggest source of arrivals, with the South Asian state delivering more than half a million (564,836) visitors to Dubai during the first quarter of the year.

Saudi Arabia came second, registering 411,586 visiting individuals during the same period, followed by the United Kingdom, with 326,586.

Chinese nationals are still coming in droves, with the number of tourists from the Asian state jumping significantly by 13 per cent year-on-year. The volume of arrivals from China peaked around the Chinese New Year holiday in February.

Oman emerged as the fifth-biggest source of tourist traffic for Dubai, registering 263,182 guests, while Russia followed closely with 203,651 visitor arrivals and Germany with 203,651.

The other major sources of tourists are the United States (185,864 visitors), Pakistan (37,015 ) and France (121,189).

“Tourism as a sector continues to be one of the most interconnected, and consequently highly diversified pillars of Dubai’s GDP, making our economic contribution imperative for collective growth,” said Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Dubai Tourism.