Varied tourist attractions add to Dubai charm
- 25 Jan 2020
The development of Dubai into a global centre for trade, tourism and commerce enabled by world-leading aviation sector and top-flight airport infrastructure means that the Emirate has become a never-miss destination for world travellers.
Visionary policies have paid rich dividends as proved by the fact that Dubai’s tourism industry closed a successful decade at the end of 2019, welcoming 16.73 million international overnight visitors, an all-time high, and an impressive 5.1 per cent increase in tourism volumes, surpassing the global tourism growth forecast by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (WTO) by over one per cent.
Latest data released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) reflects the sector’s exponential progress in a compressed time-frame relative to peers, culminating in Dubai being ranked the World’s Fourth Most Visited City for the fifth consecutive year by MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index 2019.
Accolades have been pouring in from all sides. Dubai has been named one of the world’s top 10 cities for travellers to visit in 2020 by global travel authority, Lonely Planet, which announced its “Best in Travel 2020” list last October.
Major publications and news outlets such as CNN, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel & Leisure, Afar, Forbes and others have also acknowledged Dubai’s attractiveness as a tourist hotspot.
Last year not only delivered record tourist arrivals and indicated strong desirability for future visits, but also reinforced tourism’s role as a key economic growth driver. Contributing an impressive 11.5 per cent in GDP value, Dubai’s tourism sector was ranked one of ‘Top 10’ strongest economic share generators, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s Cities Report 2019.
The report also ranked Dubai the third-largest city in capturing direct international tourism spending with a total of $27.9 billion.
As Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General, Dubai Tourism, pointed out, “The strong performances across our diversified spectrum of traditional strongholds and high-value segments have continued to solidify the global competitiveness and sustained resilience of Dubai’s tourism sector. This past decade, and 2019 in particular, have delivered unmatched acceleration in Dubai’s stature as a ‘Destination of Choice’ for global travellers assuring advancement towards the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to make it the number one most visited, preferred and revisited global city.”
Varied attractions add to Dubai’s magnetic appeal. For example, latest global data reveals that Global Village, the multi-cultural festival park and the region’s first family destination for culture, shopping and entertainment, measures up to the world’s top entertainment destinations for average daily visitation.
According to figures released in the Global Attractions Attendance Report - 2018 by Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and AECOM, average daily footfall rates for the top four attractions in the world are 57,000 for Disney’s Magic Kingdom Orlando, 51,000 for Disneyland Anaheim, 49,000 for Tokyo Disneyland and 40,000 for Tokyo DisneySea.
With an average footfall of over 42,000 guests per day, Global Village has joined the ranks of the top players in the world.
The significant accomplishment certainly highlights Global Village’s appeal as a world-class attraction that is putting the country on the map as a leading tourism destination, both regionally and globally.
Incidentally, Global Village is said to have crossed the milestone of 90 million guests since first opening its doors in 1997.
Way to go, Dubai.
