Record visitor numbers for Dubai
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Annual figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) show the emirate attracted more than 14.2 million overnight visitors in 2015, a 7.5% increase over 2014. 
The figures have been celebrated, especially when held in contrast to the United Nations World Travel Organisation’s (UNWTO) projected 3-4% global travel growth for the same period.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remained the regional foothold, supporting continued demand from neighbouring markets to Dubai, delivering the highest share of visitor volumes for 2015, with a total of 3.3 million, up 12.8% over 2014.
His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said last year was “a very strong year for Dubai’s travel sector” adding, it “positions us as the fourth most visited city in the world”.
“2015 was volatile for travel globally, as we have all witnessed a range of disruptive factors, ranging from slackening economic growth in Asian and European markets to currency fluctuations across the world,” he continued.
“Yet if Dubai is to hit its 20 million visitors per year target in the next five years, we must deliver a threshold 7-8% annual growth consistently, which has put even greater emphasis on strong sector-wide collaboration.”
In terms of country-specific volumes from the GCC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remained the lead market, contributing 1.54 million visitors, followed by Oman accounting for over 1 million travellers. Kuwait and Qatar were also among the top 20 markets, with the former the only one to register a decline in growth versus 2014 yet retaining its top 10 position, and the latter recovering strongly from mid-year with a high 32% year-on-year increase for the full year of 2015.
The UK remained within Dubai’s top three source countries with 11% growth, accounting for nearly 1.2 million visitors. Germany also stayed in the top 10 list with 7% growth generating over 460,000 visitors, followed by two others in the top 20 traffic generators – France showing a slight decline primarily in the last quarter of 2015, and Italy remaining flat versus 2014.
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