Dubai is continuing to climb the ranks as one of the top destinations for international travellers, according to the latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index.
After being ranked eighth in 2012, the emirate has now jumped to fourth this year, behind London, which topped the list in 2015, Bangkok and Paris.
“Dubai has continued to climb the ranks as an international travel destination for both business and leisure purposes,” said Eyad Al Kourdi, country manager – UAE, MasterCard.
“The future ranking of the Emirate looks very promising. As Dubai gears towards Expo 2020, we’re excited to see the opportunities that will unfold to reinforce its position as a key economic driver.”
The Global Destination Cities Index provides a ranking of the 132 most visited cities around the world.
According to the study, Dubai is expected to receive almost 14.3 million international visitors in 2015, an increase of 8 percent over last year.
When looking at the number of international overnight visitors that destination cities attract per city resident, Dubai is the world leader with 5.7 visitors per resident (an increase by 0.8 from 2014). It is therefore no surprise that the city generates more international overnight visitor expenditure per resident than any other city (estimated at $4,668).
Dubai was also ranked as the third air hub in the world by international connectivity and is the only city from the Middle East and Africa on the top 10 air hubs list.
In 2015, it is expected that nearly 383 million overnight trips will be made by international visitors between the index’s 132 cities, representing a massive demand for goods, services and experiences as they spend a total of $360 billion during their visits.
The top five origin cities for Dubai are Doha, London, Kuwait, Muscat, and Jeddah, according to the report.
Dubai was ranked fifth in resilience, with 17 feeder cities accounting for 50 percent of its international visitors while at 20.4 percent, Abu Dhabi continued to register the strongest visitor growth rate in the MEA region.
While Dubai continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the global top ten, it also revealed that Abu Dhabi is the third fastest-growing destination city overall between 2009 and 2015.
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