Dubai receives 8m international tourists during 2024

Dubai welcomed 8.12 million international tourists from January to May this year according to a report issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism.

The figure sees an increase of nearly 10 per cent compared to the same period last year, which recorded 7.39 million tourists, 

The city attracted 1.77 million international tourists in January, 1.9 million in February, 1.51 million in March, 1.5 million in April, and 1.44 million in May.

West European countries topped the list of countries exporting tourists to Dubai with a percentage of 21 per cent - or 1.728 million tourists - followed by South Asia with 1.399 million tourists, representing 17 per cent of the total number of visitors. 

Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe came third in the list of countries exporting tourists to Dubai with 1.246 million, or 15 per cent of the total number of visitors to the emirate, then the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries came fourth with 1.045 million tourists, representing 13 per cent of the total number of visitors.

The Middle East and North Africa countries came fifth in the list of countries exporting tourists to Dubai with 947 thousand tourists, representing 12 per cent, then the countries of Northeast and Southeast Asia with a share of 9 per cent, or about 764 thousand visitors.

According to data from the Department of Economy and Tourism, the number of visitors to Dubai from the Americas during the first five months of this year reached 528,000, representing 7 per cent of the total number of visitors, while the number of visitors from Africa reached 339,000, or about 4 per cent, and from Australasia 123,000, representing about one percent of the total international visitors to Dubai during the same period.

The number of hotel rooms in Dubai at the end of last May reached 150,202 rooms in 822 establishments, compared to 148,754 rooms in 812 establishments at the end of May 2023. Average hotel occupancy in all establishments operating in Dubai during the first five months of this year reached 81 per cent, compared to about 80 per cent during the same period in 2023.

The number of rooms booked during the first five months of this year exceeded 18.34 million rooms, an increase of 4 per cent, compared to the same period in 2023, when the number of rooms booked reached about 17.71 million rooms.