Visitors from Qatar to Dubai increase by 26 in Q1 2016

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

Doha: Dubai welcomed 4.1 million overnight visitors in the first three months of 2016 a 5.1% increase over the same period last year backed by strong double digit growth from its top two proximity markets the GCC and India according to figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).

The GCC continued to be the destination’s leading feeder region delivering 25% of all overnight visitation to Dubai in the first quarter. Visitors from Saudi Arabia grew 14% to 476000 from January to March in 2016 making it the number one source country followed by strong growth from Oman which increased by 32% over the same period in 2015 with 322000 visitors. Kuwait which remained in the top 10 with119000 visitors and Qatar which saw 26% spike in visitor volumes rounded off the high performing regional traffic with strong contributions.

The Subcontinent also remained a key driver of tourism volumes with India growing at 17% in the opening quarter to deliver 467000 overnight visitors making it the second largest feeder country followed by Pakistan within the region which swelled by 18% over the same period.

Despite challenging global market conditions and a strong US Dollar visitors from Western Europe continued to be second largest source region with a 23% visitor share overall in the opening quarter of 2016. This was led by 10% year-on-year quarter growth from the United Kingdom which remained Dubai’s third largest country contributor with 334000 visitors. Rounding off the top 5 was Germany which brought in 171000 visitors rebounding strongly from a slow start in the new year. France with 76000 visitors remained flat over Q1 2015 whilst Italy grew 5% representing 69000 visitors.

“Markets within the four hour flight path specifically the GCC and India remain a critical focus for our on-going visitation attraction efforts as build towards our growth targets. With an expanded festivals and events calendar taking off extremely well in the first three months and the opening of a number of new retail destinations and attractions we are constantly evolving our propositions to ensure that our markets have more reasons to return time and time again. This is only expected to increase in prevalence throughout the year as a number of flagship projects and initiatives come on line adding more depth and diversity to the Dubai offering” Helal Saeed Almarri Director General Dubai Tourism said.

Other key countries in Dubai’s top 10 source markets for the first quarter included the USA which delivered 166000 visitors; China which was up by 4%; and Iran which was the only market to see a decline. Rounding out the top 20 the Philippines saw 25% quarterly growth over the same period in 2015 Canadian visitors increased by 9% countering declines across Egypt Russia Jordan Australia and the Netherlands.

Dubai’s accommodation portfolio also saw growth with 676 establishments in operation as of March 2016 representing 98949 rooms across all hotel and hotel apartment categories.

The Peninsula