Travelsmart
Dubai recorded a strong 6.2 per cent year-on-year increase in international overnight visitation in 2017, accelerating the five per cent growth witnessed in the previous year.
The milestone propels the emirate towards its 2020 goal of welcoming 20 million visitors per year by the start of the next decade.
According to the latest data published by Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, a total of 15.79 million tourists visited Dubai last year, setting a new record for the emirate and underlining the sustained strength and resilience of its travel and tourism sector.
Commenting on the annual performance, Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Dubai Tourism, said: “Our strong 6.2 per cent growth in 2017 has allowed us to ramp up the pace towards meeting our 2020 targets, and today Dubai’s travel and tourism sector is not only well positioned to offer a superlative destination experience across its eight core strategic propositions, but also geared to accelerate its appeal to the diverse and evolving needs of our global travellers.
“With Dubai firmly consolidating its position as the fourth most visited city globally, we remain confident that our performance.”
In terms of country-specific performance, India retained top spot in 2017, contributing 2.1 million visitors, becoming the first country to cross the two million mark in a single year.
Third-placed UK, meanwhile, delivered 1.27 million travellers, rising two per cent over 2016, underscoring Dubai’s enduring popularity among British travellers despite lingering uncertainty surrounding Brexit that has impacted overall outbound travel growth from this market.
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