Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Muscat: In the first nine months of 2019, 778,000 Omani tourists visited Dubai out of a total of 12.08 million international overnight visitors during this period. This marks a surge in tourism for Dubai with a strong 4.3 per cent increase in volume growth compared to the same period last year.
The positive performance, which drew over 1.23 million visitors to the city in September according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), is an above market average increase of 7.3 per cent over the same month in 2018 and coincided with Dubai being ranked the fourth most visited city in the world for the fifth year in a row in Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index 2019.
Dubai Tourism’s multi-dimensional market-specific strategies, and customised campaigns continued to yield tangible results particularly showcasing the city’s ability to reinvent itself and remain ‘top-of mind’ to both new and repeat audiences across regular strongholds – India, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and Oman. Together with China that remained the world’s largest tourism volume driver, these five leading feeder countries surpassed the five million threshold for the first nine months of 2019.
"India retained its position as Dubai’s leading source market, with over 1.39 million visitors during the first nine months of 2019, reaffirming the effectiveness of various innovative promotional activities launched by Dubai Tourism, including the continued success of its multi-award-winning collaboration with Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, campaigns across digital and broadcast platforms, as well as capitalising on a federal government decision to exempt children under 18 from visa fees during the summer months. This reaped dividends as evidenced in the increase in travel share of Indian families with children by a substantial 13 percentage points from 32 to 45 per cent during the nine-month period in 2019 over the same period last year," a statement from Dubai Tourism said.
Solidifying its position as the highest traffic volume generator for the GCC, Saudi Arabia registered a two per cent year-on-year growth for over 1.25 million visitors, largely driven by the KSA National Day holiday on 23 September, which saw Saudi arrivals registering a massive 36+% growth compared to the same holiday period in 2018. With Dubai emphasising its priority focus on Saudi families, tourism campaigns and promotions dominated digital, social and multi-media platforms ensuring that the city’s custom line-up of events, entertainment and lifestyle offerings for KSA were always relevant, accessible, and unmissable.
Despite the devaluation of the pound against the dollar, and continued Brexit uncertainty, UK remained Dubai’s third largest source market with 851,000 visitors, largely due to the intense ‘always on’ series of in-market activities ranging from seasonal campaigns and promotions, to heavy stakeholder engagement including high-level envoy visits to drive one-to-one dialogue and strategic destination partnerships with leading media, publishers, and travel sector stalwarts. Dubai retained high demand from families with children, one of the focus segments of the tourism strategy in the UK, accounting for 25 per cent of the share during the first nine months of 2019, up by five percentage points compared to the same period in 2018.
"Oman stayed the course as one of the key drivers within the top performing markets, delivering 778,000 visitors for a 28 per cent increase year-on-year, making it the fourth highest traffic generator. Similar to the others, families were the priority for Dubai’s marketing efforts and the results were a resounding endorsement not just of the efficacy of the regional seasonal campaigns and event programming, but also of the packed retail and events calendar, offering rewarding summer packages and value offerings designed specifically to deliver memorable lifelong experiences for new and repeat audiences," the statement said.
Maintaining consistency, China, one of the fastest-growing source markets, further increased tourism volumes, taking fifth spot with an impressive 14 per cent increase that saw 729,000 Chinese tourists being welcomed in the first nine months of 2019. "It is a reflection of Dubai’s successful 4-pronged approach: (i) regulatory changes that were introduced earlier such as granting Chinese citizens free visa-on-arrival access to the UAE, (ii) strategies aimed at retaining relevance and attractiveness for this market through platform-based awareness programmes, (iii) tailored trip-planning via leading social and digital ecosystem partners, and (iv) in-city experiences through its ‘China Readiness’ initiative aimed at offering Chinese visitors exceptional experiences across all tourism touchpoints."
The United States, which saw a one per cent increase, and Russia, maintained their sixth and seventh positions with 481,000 and 433,000 visitors respectively in the first nine months of the year. "Steadily building on the quest to become the #1 family destination for global travellers, Dubai prioritised this segment effectively in Russia as well to see a four-point increase to 34 per cent in the first nine months of 2019. Within the top 10 source markets, Germany and Pakistan also retained their eighth and ninth positions with 392,000 and 378,000 visitors respectively while Philippines, one of the fastest-growing feeder markets, staged an impressive comeback to the top 10 with a 29 per cent increase delivering 352,000 visitors."
With renewed impetus from KSA the regional leader, and Oman, the GCC further consolidated its regional foothold by increasing its share of visitor volumes to 20 per cent to match the 20 per cent in volumes from Western Europe, as they secured the joint leadership position from a regional perspective. France, which climbed two places with a 10 per cent increase and Italy with a four per cent increase boosted visitor numbers from the Western Europe region, to support UK and German volumes. South Asia was the next highest regional contributor to visitor volumes with 16 per cent, followed by a 12 per cent contribution from North Asia and South East Asia dominated by China.
His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said: “With Dubai cementing its ranking as the fourth most visited city in the world, the positive growth achieved in the first three quarters this year is exemplary of the unfailing support and confidence of our leadership – His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in our collective ability with our partners and stakeholders, to steadily accelerate towards making Dubai the #1 most visited, preferred and revisited global destination."
“Our market-specific diversified strategy aimed at driving consideration from a broad spectrum of countries and visitor segments, continues to help us successfully navigate macro-economic vagaries over a nine-month period, culminating in a record number of visitors between January-September, particularly those choosing Dubai as their summer destination of choice. These latest figures affirm the strength of the emirate’s tourism industry, and our strong seasonal performance speaks to the effectiveness of our ‘Always On’ campaigns across key feeder markets coupled with ecosystem collaboration to deliver value, variety and diversity to all our audiences. The robust increase in travel by families from key markets, and specifically from Saudi Arabia, exemplifies Dubai’s growing appeal as a year-round ‘must-visit’ family destination, replete with events, attractions and activities for all ages.
“The ongoing consolidation in traditional strongholds and a concerted outreach in tapping the vast potential in emerging markets, yielded further dividends especially at a regional-level across Europe and GCC, in addition to the very encouraging performances from our Asian and African markets. As we head into 2020, our efforts will remain focused on attracting new, first-time and repeat visitors from emerging, as well as established markets, to ensure that Dubai stays at the forefront of the world’s widely recommended travel destinations,” Almarri added.
Dubai’s cruise industry continued to play a pivotal role in contributing to the emirate’s tourism sector, with Dubai strengthening its appeal as the favoured destination amongst international cruise lines and cruise tourists. Dubai concluded its 2018/2019 cruise season with a record increase of over 51 per cent in cruise tourist inflow and a 38 per cent increase in cruise ship calls season-on-season. To actively support this segment, Dubai has also taken enabling steps for cruise tourists from over 50 countries to have hassle-free access.
Further growth in visitor figures is expected, supported by an ever-evolving annual Retail Calendar featuring an attractive schedule of sales, and promotional shopping campaigns during key festivals and events, season launches, holiday periods and sales, all of which will kick off for 2020 with the 25th edition of Dubai Shopping Festival this December. Additional investment in tourism-related infrastructure will drive continued first time and repeat visitation with even more icons in the pipeline like the Museum of the Future, a unique stainless steel torus structure adorned with Arabic calligraphy that will explore the future of science, technology and innovation and Ain Dubai, a giant observation wheel that will stand at a staggering height of over 210 metres on Bluewaters Island and is set to offer 360-degree views of the Dubai skyline.
