Dubai tourist arrivals up 10% in H1

dubai - India continued to top the list of traffic generators

A record 8.06 million international overnight tourists arrived in Dubai during the first six months of 2017, a 10.6 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to figures released by Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).

India continued to top the list of traffic generators, for the first time crossing the one million mark over a six-month period with 1,051,000 Indians visiting the city between January and June, up 21 per cent over the same period last year.

Saudi Arabia and the UK retained their spots as the second and third largest feeder markets respectively, with the former rallying to stabilise in June despite facing economic challenges in 2017, while the latter delivered reliable volumes backed by solid four per cent year-on-year growth.

The impetus of recent regulatory changes granting citizens from China and Russia free visa-on-arrival access to the UAE was evident in the continued growth peaks being delivered from these markets as they topped the charts with 55 per cent and 97 per cent increases respectively over the first six months of 2016. China delivered 413,000 visitors to end H1 2017 in fifth place, and Russia cemented its return to the top 10 with 233,000 visitors.

With the exception of Oman - the GCC's second highest volume driver - which witnessed a 30 per cent decline, the remainder of the top 10 all saw increased contributions. The US continued its resurgence to end mid-year up six per cent in sixth place, followed by Pakistan up 11 per cent in seventh, Iran up 27 per cent in eighth, and Germany up six per cent in ninth spots respectively.

From a regional perspective, Western Europe contributed 21 per cent of the overnight visitor volumes, maintaining its pole position from earlier in the year. The GCC collectively accounted for 19 per cent of traffic during H1 2017.

North and South-East Asia as well as the Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe bloc both saw two per cent gains over their 2016 year-end contributions to end H1 2017 with 11 and seven per cent shares respectively.

South Asia, meanwhile, delivered a robust 18 per cent share, making it the number three regional contributor, followed by the Mena region in fourth place with a 12 per cent share. The Americas contributed six per cent in volumes, Africa four per cent and Australasia the final two per cent for the period from January to June 2017.

Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general, Dubai Tourism, said: "We are extremely pleased that Dubai has sustained the momentum of growth we achieved in the first quarter to deliver a strong double-digit performance through H1 2017."

Hotel supply
Spread across 676 establishments, Dubai's hotel room inventory stood at 104,138 at the end of June 2017, up five per cent compared to the same time last year. Notably, despite the increase in supply, average occupancy across all hotel and hotel apartment categories stood at 79 per cent, increasing one percentage point over the end of June 2016. Occupied room nights were also up year on year, totalling 14.53 million compared to 13.77 million at the end of H1 2016.

- business@khaleejtimes.com