Nobody puts Dubai in a corner

Dubai is hot on the heels of stylish cities to take the title of world’s top destination for international travellers.

According to the latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index, Dubai has risen from the ashes to take fourth spot, just shy of a podium finish behind London, Paris and Bangkok.

A one-place rise since 2014 figures, Dubai has risen from the eighth position in 2012, and MasterCard predicts that the emirate will welcome almost 14.3 million international visitors in 2015.

Official figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) in May this year showed that the emirate welcomed 13.2 million international overnight visitors in 2014.

The purpose of visits, although dominated by leisure at 59%, saw over 21% visiting for business, and another 17% visiting friends and/or relatives.

Mastercard’s announcement came days after Dubai retained its top ranking in the Middle East region for international association meetings, and climbed 19 places globally to 44th position in the 2014 International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) World Rankings – up from number 63 in 2013.

In terms of international meetings, Dubai had more news to celebrate, as the Union of International Association (UIA) announced in a recent report that Dubai made huge leaps forward in the number of international meetings hosted, with 146 international meetings under its belt in 2014.

Dubai Tourism’s director general, His Excellency Helal Almarri, this is just the tip of the iceberg for the city’s climbing popularity.

“Dubai as a destination is ever evolving in order to create memorable experiences for its guests through world-class infrastructure, excellent service and remarkable attractions which are compelling and entice visitors to return,” he said.

“Although the MasterCard rankings are predictive, they do approximate with our own estimations of future growth and are a clear demonstration of Dubai’s continual rise as a global destination of choice.”

“With regards to business tourism, the increase in the number of meetings and conferences being hosted in Dubai is significantly contributing to the rise in visitor numbers while also positioning the emirate as a global hub for creation, education and innovation.”

As a hub between East and West, Dubai International Airport has become the world’s number one airport in terms of international passengers, with over 70.47 million passengers passing through in 2014.

Construction is also expected to begin later this year on the expansion of Dubai’s second airport, Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central.

The existing six million passengers per year capacity terminal is set to be to be increased to 26 million passengers per year by the first quarter in 2017, as part of a US$32 billion expansion project announced in September 2014 to create the world’s biggest airport, with an ultimate capacity in excess of 200 million passengers per year.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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