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Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sector continued to recover in June, with the number of international tourists visiting the emirate more than double what it was in June 2021, a report said. But the figure was 15% lower than the level in the first half of 2019.
According to a report by Emirates NBD, 7.12 million people visited Dubai (staying at least one night) in the first half of this year, an increase of 183% year-on-year.
India remained the largest source market for the first half of the year, briefly overtaking the top spot in February by Saudi Arabia. Oman came in second, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
The pent-up demand from GCC countries has led to a surge in tourists within the region compared to the first half of 2021, when many travel restrictions remained in place. Russia ranks fifth with 309,000 tourists in the first six months of the year. However, the report prepared by Khatija Haque said the number of tourists from Russia has declined since March after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Hotel occupancy fell to 63% in June from 73% in May. Hotel occupancy in Dubai averaged 73.5% in the first half of 2022, only slightly lower than in the first half of 2019 (75.1%) and a significant improvement over 2020 and 2021. Importantly, revenue per available room (RevPar) rose to US$147 in the first half of 2022,21 although the number of hotel rooms in the emirate has increased by 22% since then, it is still 22% higher than in the first half of 2019.
The rebound in Dubai’s tourism industry is in line with broader trends in international air passenger traffic this year as global travel restrictions are eased. Data from the International Air Transport Association showed that global air passenger traffic was only 30% below 2019 levels in June, with a gradual recovery from mid-2020 onwards.
The recovery in Asian markets has been relatively slow, with international travel restrictions in key markets such as China still in place or only gradually being eased. However, as these Asia-Pacific markets do reopen for international travel, demand in these regions may help offset headwinds from inflation and higher borrowing costs in other markets, the report said.
While Dubai’s tourism industry in the second half of the year is likely to be boosted by the World Cup in Qatar later this year, as well as the aforementioned full recovery in international tourism, a stronger dollar could be a headwind for Emirati companies, the report said.
About half of Dubai’s international tourists come from emerging markets whose currencies have lost value this year, making Dubai a more expensive destination than Europe, the UK and Asia. High inflation and borrowing costs are also eroding the purchasing power of consumers around the world and could weigh on travel demand in the second half of 2022, the report added. -TradeArabia News Service
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