Dubai is getting ever closer to the pinnacle of its status as the most visited tourist destination in the world. Moving two points towards the top according to the Global Top 20 Destination cities Index, Dubai ranks now fifth most popular destination in the world. The Index consists of 133 destinations and monitors their annual number of visitors as well as their spending.
Currently, London tops them all with its almost 19 million visitors in 2014 so far, followed by Bangkok Singapore and Paris. Dubai has so far outnumbered New York, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur. Dubai is said to experience a further increase of 7.5% in its visitors and their spending shall step over the 11 billion dollars mark in 2014.
MasterCard suggests that the number of cross-border flights and airport spending have grown faster than the world’s GDP since 2009. Further estimates suggest that holiday travelers amounted to many more than corporate travelers, whereby holiday travelers’ demand for 4 and 5 start hotels increased by 43%, compared to 40% in 2012. The number of holiday tourists has overall gone up to 44% due to the availability of budget hotels, the number of which has increased noticeably over the past 2 years.
There are almost 5 visitors per 1 resident in Dubai, as per official record of 2014, followed by the highest tourist spending.
