Dubai: New Year's Eve is the one night a year when the entire world comes alive to celebrate.
While many UAE residents love to spend New Years’ Eve right here in Dubai, some will go abroad to experience something new.
Agooda, a fast growing digital travel platform, analysed their data and revealed that UAE residents chose Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo as their destinations-of-choice to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
UAE residents rate Dubai as their top NYE destination
Dubai clinched top spot for the fourth consecutive year that Agooda have conducted this study. It is the most popular destination for UAE residents to celebrate in, due to the fireworks displays across the emirate and the variety of outdoor activities that are available during this time of year, especially because the weather is at its best.
Dnata’s Head of Retail and Product, Emily Williams also confirmed that despite the large amount of traveling done by UAE residents during New Year’s Eve, many of them like to stay here. “UAE travellers are certainly travelling abroad more, and more adventurously. Yet, domestic travel within the UAE remains the most popular choice. With a wealth of world-class hotels and resorts on our doorstep, it isn’t surprising that residents across the country want to experience the long-standing, iconic properties and latest openings for themselves.”
The next most booked destinations to celebrate the New Year for UAE residents included Tokyo, Goa and Singapore. Another top Asian destination was Bangkok. Interestingly, in 2018, London was the number two most booked destination to visit for New Year’s Eve from the UAE, but has now dropped to number seven.
“Outside the UAE, dnata Travel has seen its highest number of bookings to the UK, Maldives, Thailand and Turkey – countries which have remained ever-popular choices for UAE travellers,”Williams told Gulf News. “This year, the highest growth in bookings overall has been to one particular destination – Russia. At just over a five-hour flight time from the UAE and with its cooler climate, a lift on visa restrictions, and it being an affordable option - travel to Russia has witnessed a massive spike at the end of 2019. The largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg have proved most popular, being at the center of the country’s rich history, famous art and architecture, grand buildings from palaces to metro stations, and beautiful, untouched nature, alongside excellent hotels and restaurants.”
Gulf News also spoke to Vishnu Rajendran, the Area Manager in the Middle East for Cathay Pacific, who said “Manila is one of our most prominent routes over this New Year season. We see a large number of residents either flying home for the festive season or tourists attracted by the numerous activities taking place across Philippines during December and early January.”
Tokyo is another key destination that UAE residents love to visit during New Year’s Eve. “This comes with little surprise given the level of celebrations which take place in the country. Ringing in the New Year is frequently billed as the most important holiday in Japan with festivities going all through the night coupled with the extravagant firework displays and feasts on offer,” Rajendran said to Gulf News.
The data from tajawal revealed Europe as a top New Year’s Eve destination for UAE flyers. Muzzammil Ahussain, Executive Vice President of tajawal told Gulf News “This upcoming holiday season, we are seeing a rise in flight bookings to far-flung destinations as UAE travellers explore Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Frankfurt Rome and London. There is also a boom in the bookings to Istanbul in Turkey. We also observed a growth in the demand of four-star and three-star accommodations with 39 per cent and 34 per cent of total bookings, respectively. Luxury 5-star accommodation reservations are also strong at 23 per cent as increasing numbers of people seek more premium experiences.”
Top 2019 New Year’s Eve Destinations (based on Agoda Booking Data)
1. Dubai
2. Abu Dhabi
3. Tokyo
4. Goa
5. Ras Al Khaimah
6. Bangkok
7. London
8. Paris
9. Singapore
10. Al Ain
Turkish Airlines has also revealed the top travel destinations of 2020, which include London right at the top, followed by fellow UK city, Manchester, then over to Frankfurt in Germany. Then the order jumps over to Manila, Mumbai, Paris, New Delhi, Almaty Dusseldorf at number nine and Munich as the top 10 destinations of 2020 as they’ve studied industry trends.
