Dubai welcomes 6.17m visitors in five months

Dubai welcomed 6.17 million international overnight visitors from January to May 2022, a 197% year-on-year increase from the same five-month period in 2021, which saw the destination attracting just over two million international travelers.

The latest tourism data was revealed by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) at its first ‘City Briefing’ for 2022, a bi-annual event that provides an in-depth industry outlook to stakeholders and partners and discusses future strategies to further reinforce the city’s position as a global hub for business, investment, talent, and tourism. The event was attended by more than 1,200 key executives from across the tourism ecosystem including the aviation, travel, hospitality, and retail sectors.

Dubai built on the momentum generated by the successful Expo 2020 to drive growth across all tourism pillars – from cultural to culinary experiences – while working towards the goal of making Dubai the most visited destination, the city of the future, and the best place in the world to live and work.

Hotels maintained an average occupancy level of 76% from January to May 2022 compared to 62% during the corresponding period in 2021. According to data from hotel management analytics firm STR, Dubai ranked first globally in hotel occupancy, ahead of other international destinations including New York (61%), London (60%), and Paris (57%) in the same period.

Since Q4 2021, there have been over 200 million searches for travel to Dubai, and in May 2022 searches and bookings for the destination reached almost pre-pandemic levels.