Dubai is most visited city in ME and Africa region

Dubai has once again lived up to its reputation of being the most visited city in the region.

According to UK-based Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations 2019 report Dubai ranks No.1 city in the Middle East and Africa and is among top 10 most visited destinations in the world.

A night view of the majestic city of Dubai.

The Euromonitor said Dubai continues to lead the Middle East and Africa in terms of numbers of international arrivals.

There were 15.9 million international tourist arrivals in 2018 and 16.3 million in 2019.

Atlantis Hotel seen in the backdrop of Palm Jumeirah.

Dubai builds on its strong performance in the number of international tourist arrivals last year, with Euromonitor highlighting the availability of a free transit visa for two days and its various theme park offerings.

Hong Kong remains the world’s most visited city in 2019, despite huge anti-government protests that have paralysed the city since June.

The city's proximity to China (more than 50 per cent of visitors come from mainland China), “vibrant” shopping and “strong cultural heritage” helped to draw almost 27 million arrivals this year, according to the 2019 Euromonitor Top 100 City Destinations report.

Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, lit up by fireworks.

Hong Kong was the world's most visited city in 2017 and 2018.

In second, third and fourth place for 2019 are Bangkok (25.8 million), Macau (20.6 million) and Singapore (19.7 million) respectively; while Delhi and Kuala Lumpur both appear in the top 10.

Representing Europe, London is in fifth place with 19.6 million expected arrivals this year; Paris comes in sixth place with 19 million; while Istanbul is at number nine with 14.7 million expected tourists this year.

A view of Palm Jumeirah island.

Separately BBC selected the Palm Jumeirah island on the coast of Dubai as one of the ‘amazing images of Earth art’ seen from above.

Meanwhile, Forbes selects Sustainability as one of the luxury travel trends for 2020 and states that in Dubai "it’s truly incredible to see how sustainability initiatives are taking over among both beach and city hotels," with many hotels making efforts to get rid of plastics.