Dubai welcomes record 9.31 m visitors in H1 2024

Dubai welcomed 9.31 million international overnight visitors from January to June 2024, a 9% increase over the 8.55 million tourist arrivals in the first half of 2023, according to data published by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), a report said.

Following a landmark 2023, when the city hosted 17.15 million international overnight visitors, Dubai has continued to sustain its strong tourism momentum. The growth in the first six months of this year puts the city on track for a record performance in 2024, Emirates News Agency WAM, said.

In collaboration with domestic stakeholders and more than 3,000 global partners in 80 markets, DET’s targeted campaigns resulted in Dubai achieving impressive growth in key markets in the first half of 2024.

From January to June 2024, proximity markets in GCC and MENA had a combined 26% share of overall visitors, with 1.27 million (14%) and 1.09 million (12%) arrivals respectively. Western Europe accounted for 20% of visitors to Dubai, with 1.89 million in total.

South Asia was another major source market, with 1.62 million visitors (17%), as was CIS and Eastern Europe with 1.37 million (15%). North-East and South-East Asia grew from an 8% share at the beginning of the year to a 10% share (896,000) of total visitors by the end of H1 2024, driven by strong recovery from China.

Other regions also saw a rise in visitation to Dubai, including the Americas with 617,000 (7%), Africa with 404,000 (4%) and Australasia with 154,000 (2%).

According to DET’s latest data, the emirate’s hotel sector continued to perform well across all hospitality metrics from January to June, including occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), and guests’ length of stay.

Among the highest in the world, Dubai hotels’ average occupancy of 78.7% is a slight 1.0% point higher than the 77.7% occupancy achieved for the same period in 2023.

Occupied room nights increased by 3%, with 21.35 million at the end of H1 2024, compared to 20.73 million in H1 2023. ADR rose to AED558 during H1, an increase of 4% compared to the same period in 2023, while RevPAR increased by 6% compared to last year, from AED415 to AED439.

Meanwhile, total available rooms in Dubai reached 150,879 by the end of June 2024, compared to 148,689 rooms in June 2023, with the number of establishments standing at 823, up from 810 at the same point last year.