Dubai - 8th for internation visitor numbers

Dubai has been ranked eighth in the world in terms of inbound international visitor numbers, outranking cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam, New York, Shanghai and Beijing, in the second annual Global Destination Cities Index, released by MasterCard Worldwide.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi has been ranked as the fourth fastest growing city in terms of international visitor numbers, outstripping cities such as Singapore, Istanbul and Toronto, and is likely to grow three and a half times faster than New York.

The Index considers the global economy from the perspective of connectivity between global cities in terms of international air travel and cross-border spend and aims to deepen understanding of the dynamic flow of global commerce.

According to Global Economic Advisor for MasterCard Wordlwide, Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, despite the sluggish global economic climate in this year’s Index, the indications for the overall tourism and travel sector are quite positive. There are hotspots of strong growth across the globe, with several major destinations drawing international visitor arrivals and expenditure acting as important engines of growth.

The Division President - MENA, MasterCard Worldwide, Raghu Malhotra, said that Dubai and Abu Dhabi have emerged as vital destination centres regionally and globally. The ease of doing business in the UAE, and the wonderful hotels, shopping, sightseeing and entertainment that it offers are the reasons for driving in the visitors. This is great news for local businesses as it highlights strong opportunities for growth.

With 8.8mn international visitors expected this year, Dubai is the eighth most highly ranked city in the world, with one spot higher than in 2011.

London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and Kuwait are top origin cities for Dubai, in terms of number of inbound passenger arrivals. London is the number one origin city for Dubai, with more than 803,000 visitors expected this year. Visitors from London are also amongst the highest spenders in Dubai, with US$1,495 spent per visit.

Abu Dhabi is the fourth fastest growing destination in the world by visitor numbers, with an increase of 17.9% expected in 2012, marking an increase of 20.7% in comparison to 2011.

London has been crowned as the world’s top destination city for second year in a row with 16.9mn inbound passengers expected in 2012. This is followed by Paris, Bangkok, Singapore and Istanbul in the top five ranking.

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks 132 cities in terms of their total international visitor arrivals and cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, giving visitor and passenger growth forecasts for the year.

Posted on 14/6/2012

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