Dubai Overnight Visitors Jump 134% To 11.4 Million; Pakistanis, Indians Among Top Travelers

There has been a strong influx of tourists from Oman, Pakistan, and India in Dubai. The number of overnight visitors to Dubai in the first 10 months of 2022 are more than doubled.

On Thursday, Issam Kazim CEO Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said at a conference, “the emirate received 11.4 million overnight international visitors during January-October 2022 period, an increase of 134 per cent when compared to the same period last year.”

Although Dubai received 4.88 million visitors in the first 10 months of last year, the numbers are down only by 16% compared to the pre-pandemic year.

Pakistan, Indian, and Oman are the major countries with million-plus visitors from January till October 2022, followed by the UK, the USA, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, and Iran.

Kazime added, “When the rest of the world is still recovering from Covid, we have been able to see success in our numbers despite China still not being back to its full potential. We have diversified our approach and this helped us to tap new markets.”

Emirates NBD Research said Dubai hotel occupancy increased to 76.8 per cent in October from 69.8 per cent in September, but this was slightly below last October’s occupancy rate of 80.7 per cent.

The revenue per available room (RevPar) rose to $160 from $85 the month prior as high season pricing kicked in, but still four per cent lower than last year’s October levels of $169.6.

“However, the apparent softness in hotel occupancy and RevPAR should be seen in the context of the increase in the supply of accommodation in Dubai. The number of hotel establishments has risen 7 per cent from 736 to 790, whilst the number of rooms has risen 8 per cent from 134,000 to 145,000,” it said.