According to a recent report by the Department of Economy and Tourism in Dubai in the UAE, the number of tourists who visited Dubai from 11 international markets during the first quarter of 2023 exceeded the growth levels observed in 2019 before the pandemic.
During the first quarter of this year, around 2.11 million tourists visited Dubai from the top 20 markets with the highest tourist flows. This makes up 45.3% of the total city visitors. Meanwhile, other international markets are also showing signs of recovery.
Dubai saw a significant influx of Indian visitors during the first quarter of this year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The number of visitors from India increased by 8% to reach 612 000, compared to 565 000 in the same period in 2019.
According to the data, Kazakhstan had the highest growth rate of tourists visiting Dubai before the pandemic. In the first quarter of 2023, approximately 81 000 visitors from Kazakhstan came to Dubai, compared to 39 000 visitors in the same period of 2019, resulting in a growth of 107%.
Despite the challenging circumstances in Russia, Dubai reported a significant growth in Russian tourists, with a growth rate of 53%, making Russia the second among the top-performing source markets. The number of Russian visitors increased to 356 000 in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 234 000 in the same period of 2019. Canada ranked third, recording a 28% growth in the number of tourists, as Dubai received, during the first 3 months of the current year, 66 000 Canadian tourists compared to 52 000 in the corresponding period of 2019. The growth of visitors from Canada was supported by the expansion of Emirates Airlines in the Canadian market and the increase in the number of Canadian Airlines flights to Dubai.
During the first quarter of this year, Dubai saw a rise in the number of visitors from Iraq and Iran compared to pre-pandemic levels. The number of Iraqi visitors increased by 25%, from 44000 in Q1 2019 to 55000 in Q1 2021. Meanwhile, Iranian visitors grew by 18%, from 94 000 in Q1 2019 to 111 000 in Q1 2021.
During the first quarter of this year, the number of tourists from the United States increased by 7%, from over 186 000 in the first quarter of 2019 to 198 000 in the first three months of 2023.
