Dubai 7th most-visited city
Dubai is the top performer in the Middle East, and sees continued steady growth in 2015 in inbound arrivals.
dubai — Hong Kong is the world’s leading destination city based on international visitor arrivals while Dubai has been ranked seventh, according to the Top City Destinations Ranking 2017.
Hong Kong has remained the most visited city in the world for the seventh year running despite a fall in the number of arrivals.
Market research company Euromonitor International reported that Bangkok had overtaken London to claim second place in the rankings, despite an increase in arrivals in the UK capital, which remained the highest placed European city.
The report, based on 2015 international arrivals and excluding those in transit, said Hong Kong received 26.68 million visitors in 2015, ahead of Bangkok’s 18.73 million. The third to sixth spots went to London (18.6 million), Singapore (16.8 million), Paris (15 million), and Macau (14.3 million), respectively.
Retaining its ranking, Dubai recorded 14.26 million arrivals in 2015, up eight per cent from 2014’s 13.2 per cent.
Dubai is the top performer in the Middle East, and sees continued steady growth in 2015 in inbound arrivals. “The city is benefiting from years of extensive investment in state-of-the-art and world-leading infrastructure, luxury shopping, hotels and entertainment,” said the report.
Dr Wouter Geerts, travel analyst at Euromonitor International, said 2015 was another turbulent year. “Terrorist attacks, geopolitical conflicts,
[Dubai] is benefiting from years of extensive investment in state-ofthe-art and world-leading infrastructure, luxury shopping, hotels and entertainment Euromonitor International
economic uncertainty, and health scares including MERS and Zika were just some of the factors impacting city arrivals.”
“Nevertheless, top cities outperformed global travel flows, registering growth of 5.5 per cent in international arrivals compared to 2014, showing the resilience of global cities as travel destinations.”
The Middle East and Africa region has 12 cities in the top 100, but the vast majority is located in the Middle East and North Africa.
Johannesburg is the only city from the rest of the African continent that made it into the ranking.
Dubai was followed by Istanbul (12.4 million), New York City (12.3 million) and Kuala Lumpur (12.1 million) to rank among the top 10 destinations for arrivals.
Overall, the study found that tourist arrivals continued to grow in global urban centres in 2015 by as much as 5.5 per cent over the previous year, illustrating the continued economic importance of tourism to the world’s largest cities.
London is the top-ranked city in Europe (ranked third globally), with international arrivals growing just short of seven per cent in 2015, boosted by England’s hosting of the Rugby World Cup in September 2015. Paris witnessed the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in 2015. Although the impact was minimal in 2015, 2016 arrivals are expected to be harder hit. Istanbul proved largely immune to a decline in Russian arrivals due to the weak rouble, and unlike Turkish beach destinations registered growth. However, the Atatürk Airport bombing and military coup show it remains a volatile city.
New York City, the top destination for international travellers in the Americas, was hit by the strong US dollar compared to other currencies, but the city still showed slight growth and remained in the top 10.
The report said the biggest news story coming out of North America has been the election of Donald Trump. “Whether, and how, this will impact arrivals to the US (and possibly Canada as a substitute destination for travellers from across the Atlantic) will become evident from the 2016 and 2017 arrival numbers.”
The city arrivals data were sourced directly from national statistics offices, airport arrivals, hotel/accommodation stays, and other methods for all 58 core countries and 77 additional market insight countries.
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com