Saudi tourists played a vital role in boosting the Dubai tourism sector last year. The Kingdom, which has consistently been Dubai?s primary source market, experienced a big boost with guest numbers up by 19.9 percent to 1.35 million. In 2012, Dubai received 1.13 million visitors from Saudi Arabia.
In total, Dubai?s hotels welcomed more than 11 million guests in 2013, an increase of just over one million on the 2012 numbers.
According to statistics released by Dubai?s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Saudi Arabia (1,353,819), India (888,835), the UK (758,657), the United States (510,423), Russia (403,990), Kuwait (336,032), Germany (324,352), Oman (290,826), Iran (277,847) and China (275,675) made up the top 10 for the January-December 2013 period.
Australia (269,147), Pakistan (259,457), Egypt (207,327), France (186,438), Qatar (171,742), Philippines (135,638), Italy (132,992), Jordan (119,602), Lebanon (111,682) and the Netherlands (100,934) are the other toppers.
Guest numbers across all hotel establishments (hotels and hotel apartments) in 2013 reached 11,012,487, a 10.6 percent increase on the 9,957,161of 2012.
?The strong growth shown in hotel establishment guests in 2013 is a positive first step on our journey to 2020. Having announced the Tourism Vision for 2020 in May 2013, a 10.6 percent growth in hotel establishment guests demonstrates that we are on the track to double the 10 million tourists received in 2012 to 20 million per year by 2020 and is an affirmation of the destination?s ever increasing appeal,? says Helal Saeed Almarri, director general of DTCM.
The Australian market experienced the most growth, with numbers up by 39 percent from more than 193,000 in 2012 to more than 269,000 in 2013. China ranked 10th also continued to show a significant increase, with visitors up by 11 percent.
Revenues for hoteliers and hotel apartment operators saw significant growth with total revenues up by 16.1 percent reaching AED21.84 billion for 2013.
Total guest nights also recorded increases, up 11 percent to 41.57 million compared to 37.45 million in 2012.
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