Dubai now the fifth most visited city in the world

[al-Hasani]

Dubai rises to fifth in world's top destination cities
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By Andy Sambidge
Saturday, 12 July 2014 10:41 AM

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Dubai has risen in a new list of the world's top destinations for international travellers and is expected to welcome nearly 12 million visitors this year.

London topped the annual MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index for the third time in four years but Dubai rose two places to fifth globally, behind Bangkok, Paris and Singapore.

Visitor figures for the emirate this year represent an increase of 7.5 percent on 2013. This has helped boost the position of Dubai ahead of New York and Istanbul – both of which ranked higher than Dubai last year.

MasterCard added that Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the global top 10, and is on track to overtake Paris and Singapore within five years.


The index comes as tourism chiefs in Dubai aim to make the emirate the most visited city in the world by 2020, attracting 20 million annual visitors.

“We continue to see strong demand and interest in air travel, both for business and personal travel. Since 2009, cross-border air travel and associated spending has been growing faster than real world GDP,” said Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, global economic advisor to MasterCard.

“This continued growth of travel across borders reflects a continued interest and desire for new cultural experiences from all geographies, including consumers from emerging markets who now have the financial ability to pursue these opportunities.”

Dubai also emerged as the top city in terms of international overnight visitors per resident as well as the city that generates more international overnight visitor expenditure per resident than any other city ($3,863).


Now in its fourth year, the index provides a ranking of the 132 most travelled cities from around the world.

According to the study, London is projected to receive 18.7 million international visitors in 2014, followed by Bangkok(16.42 million), Paris (15.57 million), Singapore (12.47 million) and Dubai (11.95 million)

“The index points to a continued strong demand and interest in air travel, both for business and personal travel,” said Ann Cairns, president of International Markets, MasterCard.

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2014.

Public data are used in deriving the international visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 132 destination cities, using custom-made algorithms; paying special attention to eliminate the hub effects for destination cities such as Singapore, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Dubai rises to fifth in world's top destination cities - Travel & Hospitality - ArabianBusiness.com

Amazing.

@Abu Nasar @Al Bhatti @levina etc.

 

[Levina]

"Emirates" flight has a part to play in it.And ofcourse the vision of Dubai ruler.
Dubai is a mixed bag of expats.Almost everyone likes Dubai and add to it that its more liberal in comparison to the other emirates.
I like the way Dubai businessmen go an extra mile to keep the tourists happy, the malls are open 24x7 during eid holidays.And getting a hotel room is next to impossible in that season.
I think it all started with Dubai shopping festival, from then on Dubai was considered a shoppers paradise.

 

[BJP*]

I am visiting Dubai for first time on coming 16th July.

For me this would be a wonderful city

 

[al-Hasani]

"Emirates" flight has a part to play in it.And ofcourse the vision of Dubai ruler.
Dubai is a mixed bag of expats.Almost everyone likes Dubai and add to it that its more liberal in comparison to the other emirates.
I like the way Dubai businessmen go an extra mile to keep the tourists happy, the malls are open 24x7 during eid holidays.And getting a hotel room is next to impossible in that season.
I think it all started with Dubai shopping festival, from then on Dubai was considered a shoppers paradise.

Dubai 100 years ago was just a small fishing village (it never really had any historical importance) like 10.000's of others in the Arab world and Eastern Arabia alone!

Now 100 years after it has transformed into an international trade, tourism, transport, aviation, business, finance, and real estate hub etc.

It's remarkable really and the projects, visions and ambitions never seem to end either.
Thanks mostly to clever rulers.

1 thing is being blessed with a good strategic location next to the Gulf and plenty of natural resources the other thing is to be able to reach ones goals and potential despite all of that. Most of the time people waste their potential here in live. Dubai though is a living proof of the opposite being the case!

I am visiting Dubai for first time on coming 16th July.

For me this would be a wonderful city

Visiting Dubai in July is not the best idea as temperatures are around 35-45 degrees Celsius. But since you are probably from South Asia you should be familiar with warm temperatures and humidity I guess.

You should rather have visited Dubai and UAE in general during the winter, spring and autumn months.

But I wish you a nice trip. You will feel at home if you are from South Asia.

 

[Levina]

Dubai 100 years ago was just a small fishing village (it never really had any historical importance) like 10.000's of others in the Arab world and Eastern Arabia alone!

Now 100 years after it has transformed into an international trade, tourism, transport, aviation, business, finance, and real estate hub etc.

It's remarkable really and the projects, visions and ambitions never seem to end either.
Thanks mostly to clever rulers.

1 thing is being blessed with a good strategic location next to the Gulf and plenty of natural resources the other thing is to be able to reach ones goals and potential despite all of that. Most of the time people waste their potential here in live. Dubai though is a living proof of the opposite being the case!

I think healthy competition between the emirates works too in its favor.
As in Abudhabi had loads of oil and Dubai had no way to survive in front of it so they had to come up with something which gave a boost to their economy.

But very very frankly, i think its the liberal attitude of localites in Dubai which works in its favor.
Even Qatar is coming up, but why isnt it as famous as Dubai?? Not hard to guess

 

[BJP*]

Visiting Dubai in July is not the best idea as temperatures are around 35-45 degrees Celsius. You should rather have visited Dubai and UAE in general during the winter, spring and autumn months.

We have same temperatures in Delhi. We were planning to visit the city since very long time, were unnable to vist till yet. This time I do not wanted to post pone it.

Do you suggest we have to be extra conscious as Ramzaan are going on?

 

[al-Hasani]

I think healthy competition between the emirates works too in its favor.
As in Abudhabi had loads of oil and Dubai had no way to survive in front of it so they had to come up with something which gave a boost to their economy.

But very very frankly, i think its the liberal attitude of localites in Dubai which works in its favor.
Even Qatar is coming up, but why isnt it as famous as Dubai?? Not hard to guess

Imagine if most of the Arabian Peninsula or Arab world was as liberal as Dubai and were as good when it comes to publicity and marketing as Dubai? The results of such a policy in terms of tourism etc. would be simply amazing considering the nearly 100 World UNESCO Heritage Sites in the Arab world and all the heritage, culture, landscapes, sea, location in the middle of the world, potential etc.

Of course peace and stability is needed which is not the case in several Arab countries right now unfortunately.

It pains me to see what KSA could have been with a bit more liberal rules when I just look at UAE which is next by.

Qatar are doing well I hear. Lot's of things are going on before the World Cup 2022.

We have same temperatures in Delhi. We were planning to visit the city since very long time, were unnable to vist till yet. This time I do not wanted to post pone it.

Do you suggest we have to be extra conscious as Ramzaan are going on?

BTW, those were day time temperatures. It's cooler in the evenings, mornings and during the night.

Yes, I am aware of that hence why I wrote that you as a South Asian should be familiar with the temperatures and humidity.

Well, just respect that Ramadan is ongoing other than that you should be completely fine. Don't forget that there is a very big Indian diaspora in UAE.

@levina is a perfect person to ask about UAE.

 

[MarkusS]

The problem in this chart is that Dubai is a global hub for many flights that go from Europe to SE-Asia as well as Australia / New Zealand. A large percentage of those guests do never leave the airport and just switch airplanes.

 

[al-Hasani]

The problem in this chart is that Dubai is a global hub for many flights that go from Europe to SE-Asia as well as Australia / New Zealand. A large percentage of those guests do never leave the airport and just switch airplanes.

This is not entirely correct but this goes for all major destinations of the world. It's no different in London, Paris, Bangkok and especially Singapore.

All are major global hubs for flights.

 

[Levina]

We have same temperatures in Delhi. We were planning to visit the city since very long time, were unnable to vist till yet. This time I do not wanted to post pone it.

Do you suggest we have to be extra conscious as Ramzaan are going on?

First of all no eating out during the day while ramadan is going on.(Dawn to dusk)
I hope you would stay till Eid, thats when you will be able to enjoy the city most. Thats how i like it.

Though Delhi is as hot as UAE still I think in UAE the same temp of 35degrees of Delhi feels like 40degrees.I mean its extremely dry and the bright sunlight is very vey hard to bear.

 

[MarkusS]

Imagine if most of the Arabian Peninsula or Arab world was as liberal as Dubai and were as good when it comes to publicity and marketing as Dubai? The results of such a policy in terms of tourism etc. would be simply amazing considering the nearly 100 World UNESCO Heritage Sites in the Arab world and all the heritage, culture, landscapes, sea, location in the middle of the world, potential etc.

Of course peace and stability is needed which is not the case in several Arab countries right now unfortunately.

It pains me to see what KSA could have been with a bit more liberal rules when I just look at UAE which is next by.

Qatar are doing well I hear. Lot's of things are going on before the World Cup 2022.



BTW, those were day time temperatures. It's cooler in the evenings, mornings and during the night.

Yes, I am aware of that hence why I wrote that you as a South Asian should be familiar with the temperatures and humidity.

Well, just respect that Ramadan is ongoing other than that you should be completely fine. Don't forget that there is a very big Indian diaspora in UAE.

@levina is a perfect person to ask about UAE.

I visited Dubai with my girl. We stayed in the hotel at the Burj and loved it. Its really great there. If all the arab world would be like this it would be cool. I told you i would visit Saudi Arabia and this mega tower in Jeddah interests me very much. But not under the current circumstances. There is just too much you must care about that would ruin evry holiday.

 

[al-Hasani]

First of all no eating out during the day while ramadan is going on.(Dawn to dusk)
I hope you would stay till Eid, thats when you will be able to enjoy the city most. Thats how i like it.

Though Delhi is as hot as UAE still I think in UAE the same temp of 35degrees of Delhi feels like 40degrees.I mean its extremely dry and the bright sunlight is very vey hard to bear.

@levina

Does the weather not usually feel warmer when there is a lot of humidity? I mean correct me if I am wrong but Dubai has a lot of humidity too does it not? At least I remember that during my last visit to Dubai which was during the autumn (October).

New Delhi surely has to be more humid overall though?!

 

[MOHSENAM]

Dubai at past and now:

 

[MarkusS]

@levina

Does the weather not usually feel warmer when there is a lot of humidity? I mean correct me if I am wrong but Dubai has a lot of humidity too does it not? At least I remember that during my last visit to Dubai which was during the autumn (October).

New Delhi surely has to be more humid overall though?!

As an italian i can say you, if you can survive venice in summer, Dubai is free game ha ha. I did not feel much heat there in may.

 

[Cherokee]

Visited it twice . Will visit in a couple of years again to get my AFF training and A license from Skydive Dubai desert campus .