In the first quarter of 2023, Dubai received 4.67 million foreign overnight guests, up from 3.97 million visitors in 2022.
According to information released by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), this is a 17% year-over-year gain and the city's highest Q1 performance since the epidemic, putting it firmly on course to become the most popular foreign destination.
The United Nations World Trade Organization had predicted that international tourist arrivals would reach between 80 and 95 percent of pre-pandemic levels this year, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Still, according to the most recent industry results, announced at Arabian Travel Market 2023 in the Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai is the destination recovering the fastest globally, reaching 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Q1 2023.
A remarkable achievement since turning the tide in July 2020 by reopening the city to international tourists, and despite current global economic headwinds, was the number of visitors in Q1 2023, which fell just two percentage points short of the pre-pandemic volume of 4.75 million tourists that arrived in Dubai in the first three months of 2019.