Dubai retains pride of place as 4th most popular travel destination
Emirate had the highest international overnight visitor spend at $28.5b in 2016
Dubai has been named the fourth most popular city to travel to in the world by MasterCard, in the company’s ninth annual Global Destinations Cities Index released yesterday.
The emirate welcomed 14.87 million international overnight visitors in 2016, with an expected continued growth of 7.7 per cent for 2017.
Of all the countries on the list, Dubai had the highest international overnight visitor spend, amounting to $28.5 billion (Dh104.6 billion) in 2016.
Abu Dhabi, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9 per cent between 2009 and 2016 in its growth of visitors, also retained its position as the fastest growing city in the Middle East and Africa, and is the fourth fastest-growing city globally.
Khalid Al Gibali, division president for the Middle East and North Africa at MasterCard, said in a statement: “Dubai’s top rankings in the ninth MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index reaffirms the strength of the emirate as a leading global travel, tourism and shopping destination.
“With its relentless focus on continuously innovating its business and leisure infrastructure and offerings, Dubai continues to reinforce its position on the world map as a highly attractive destination for visitors of all ages and nationalities.”
On the city’s retail sector, Al Gibali added that “coupled with its year-round calendar of festivals, events and a wide range of shopping experiences, [it] also continues to be a huge draw for international visitors as supported by its ranking as the top global destination in terms of visitor expenditure.”
The index forecasts a growth of 7.7 per cent in 2017 for overnight visitors to Dubai, with only Tokyo higher from the top 10 countries.
Conversely, New York was expected to contract by 2.4 per cent.
In terms of spend, Dubai was again the second-fastest growing destination in the top 10, with a projected growth in 2017 of 10.2 per cent.
Only Bangkok was expected to grow its visitor spend more this year, forecasted to grow at a rate of 10.9 per cent.