Dubai recorded an 11 per cent increase in tourist numbers in the first quarter of the year as the emirate continued to benefit from a rebound in global travel demand after the coronavirus pandemic.
The emirate hosted 5.18 million international overnight visitors from January to March 2024, compared with 4.67 million tourist arrivals during the same period a year earlier, according to data published by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) on Monday.
“The number of visitors in the first quarter of 2024 indicates that Dubai is on course for another standout performance this year after the emirate received a record number of visitors last year,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the emirate's Executive Council.
“This will ensure that the tourism sector continues its growth journey in line with the … objectives of the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), which aims to strengthen its position as a leading global city for business and leisure.”
The increase in tourists comes as global airline capacity improved after the Covid-19 pandemic and as more travellers from China, a crucial market for the emirate in 2019, started to return to the city in increasing numbers, Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, told The National on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
“What we're better at doing today is getting the right product out to the right audience and in front of them at the right time, which helps us quite a lot, leveraging different platforms and channels and means of communication,” he said.
Dubai, which is known for its luxury hotels, is also seeing returns on a strategy in 2014 to encourage more three-and-four star hotels to be built to offer more budget-friendly accommodation for a wider variety of travellers.
“What we've also been able to do over the years is really instigate the product offering from the three-and-four-star segment. So we've talked to all our partners and stakeholders in the sector and they've become quite efficient in the way that they price their product at the right time to really bring in the numbers as well. They've seen a massive growth in terms of occupancy on their side,” Mr Kazim said.
The tourism sector, an important pillar of the emirate's economy, has strongly rebounded from the coronavirus-induced slowdown. Last year, Dubai International Airport retained its crown as the world's busiest international hub for passengers for the 10th consecutive year amid an increase in long-haul travel demand.
From January to March, the Western Europe region was Dubai’s biggest source market with 1.138 million arrivals, followed by South Asia with 869,000 visitors, the DET said.
About 817,000 visitors were recorded from countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe.
“The markets we've seen good growth in is the CIS region, we're still seeing great opportunity there as well. In the US and North America in general we see growth and we see great potential still,” Mr Kazim said.
Dubai’s hotels maintained a room occupancy rate of 83 per cent in the first quarter despite a 2 per cent year-over-year increase in overall room supply, the DET said.
In the first quarter of 2024, there were 11.2 million occupied room nights, representing a 2 per cent increase from the 10.98 million occupied room nights in the same period last year.
Hotel revenue per available room, a crucial gauge of performance for the industry, reached Dh527 ($143.48) in the first quarter, up by 4 per cent compared to the first three months of last year.
“In addition to our high-performing tourism ecosystem, these figures also continue to be spurred by upswings in the number of international businesses setting up, existing companies expanding business lines and catchment footprint from Dubai,” said Helal Al Marri, director general of DET.
DWC's new passenger terminal
Dubai's recently announced new passenger terminal at its second airport at Al Maktoum International – the emirate's second hub known as Dubai World Central (DWC) – will increase capacity to handle the projected 10-year growth in international tourist arrivals, according to Mr Kazim.
“It plays a big role in that … because there are capacity limitations,” he said.
“When we put campaigns out there we can that there is a demand surge, the search for Dubai goes up, bookings for Dubai go up but we are also limited in many cases by airport and airline capacity.”
As Dubai International Airport reaches the limits of its capacity, the move to an expanded new airport at DWC becomes necessary.
“It's time that Dubai actually had an airport that can keep up with the demand that the tourism segment is bringing in,” Mr Kazim said.
“As a logistics hub, being right next to the Jebel Ali Free Zone and creating that logistics corridor … it's not just going to be the [tourism] destination.”
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
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Nationality: Jordanian
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Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
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UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD v SOUTH AFRICA
Aaron Finch (capt), Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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READ MORE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
RESULTS
Manchester United 2
Anthony Martial 30'
Scott McTominay 90 6'
Manchester City 0
