Dubai welcomed over 14 m arrivals in 2015

DUBAI recorded over 14.2 million overnight visitors in 2015, a 7.5% increase from Dubai Tourism’s 2014 figures. It aims to attract over 20 million visitors per year by 2020.

Nations from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) contributed the highest share of visitor volumes for 2015, accounting for 3.3 million total footfall, an increase of 12.8% from 2014.

Within the GCC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remained the lead source market, contributing 1.5 million visitors, followed by Oman with over one million travellers.

Elsewhere, western Europe remained the second highest regional contributor to visitor volumes with nearly three million footfalls, a 6.1% growth from 2014.

The UK remained within Dubai’s top three source markets with nearly 1.2 million visitors, an 11% increase from 2014. Germany also stayed in the top 10 list with seven% growth generating over 460,000 visitors.

South Asia followed as the next largest region by arrival volume, bringing in 2.3 million visitors, reflecting a 21.7% jump from 2014. India dominated the region, becoming Dubai’s number one overall source country, for the first time, by bringing in over 1.6 million tourists. India also became the second fastest growing market with a 26% year-on-year growth.

Asian markets, except the Indian sub-continent, accounted for a total of 1.2 million travellers to Dubai, recording a 17.9% increase for 2015 compared to 2014. With 450,000 Chinese tourists to Dubai last year, inbound traffic from China topped year-on-year growth trends with a 29% increase in visitorship.

Meanwhile, the Americas recorded an 8.2% growth with the US growing three% to retain its position within the top five source markets for Dubai.