Dubai tourism tips

International policymakers and industry leaders are preparing to gather in the UAE for Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2024, where they will examine how entrepreneurship and innovation are reshaping the global tourism industry. The 31st edition of the exhibition will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Monday 6 to Thursday 9 May.

IHG has announced the Six Senses Residences Dubai Marina project — a purely residential development vying for the title of “world’s tallest residential tower.”

Dubai Tourism CEO Issam Kazim joked that Dubai is an Indian city.

Dubai’s booming restaurant sector has its own 50-minute episode in a Netflix show out Friday: The seventh season of ‘Somebody Feed Phil,’ a travel show where Philip Rosenthal (creator of the sitcom ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’) tours restaurants across major global cities.

Dubai recorded its highest ever annual tourist arrivals in 2023, attracting 17.15 million international overnight visitors over the course of the year. The previous record stood at 16.73 million visitors registered in 2019. The data published by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) showed that 2023’s visitor numbers represented a 19.4 per cent year-on-year growth over the 14.36 million tourist arrivals in 2022.

Dubai saw 17 million visitors in 2023, the emirate’s best-ever year for tourism and the first year ahead of pre-pandemic numbers. The news was shared in a brief tweet by the city’s crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

Dubai’s tourism authority has issued 70 ‘Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamps’ to hotels across the emirate. With more than 800 hotels in Dubai today, that means that just under 10% of operating hotels were recognized for adhering to Dubai’s sustainability requirements.

Dubai has secured the coveted No.1 global destination ranking in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Destinations Awards for an unprecedented third successive year – becoming the first city to achieve the milestone. Dubai’s latest top international ranking was announced by Tripadvisor®, the world’s largest travel guidance platform, in its Travellers’ Choice Awards for 2024: Best of the Best Destinations. The accolade carries further significance due to the winners being selected based exclusively on the reviews of millions of global travellers in the Tripadvisor community. The awards factor in the quality and quantity of Tripadvisor reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants and experiences in each destination over a period of 12 months between 1 October 2022 through 30 September 2023.

Dubai has completed its journey from the “dot in the desert” to a truly global city that more than 200 nationalities call home. The modern emirate is now so well-connected and cosmopolitan, that its large number of expat residents are truly “global citizens” rather than “Dubians.”

IHG is in talks to operate all three hotels on a man-made island that’s part of Dubai’s long-delayed tourism development: The Heart of Europe.

Intense storms and flash floods in the Middle East city of Dubai this Friday morning have halted its events calendar. Across the country, storms began at around 4am local time, with Dubai Police and other authorities issuing public safety warnings shortly after. The National Centre of Meteorology issued orange and yellow alerts nationwide, cautioning residents about potentially dangerous weather conditions for outdoor activities.

Dubai-born hospitality brand Rove Hotels is ready to start expanding overseas. A joint venture between Burj Khalifa creator company Emaar and local holding firm Meraas, Rove was founded to help fill Dubai’s affordable accommodation gap.

Real estate magnate Mohamed Alabbar said Wednesday he is “scared” about Dubai’s snowballing luxury market because there aren’t enough resources to cater to demand.

The UAE’s minister of economy has said the country’s tourism advisory board is working on new packages that promote travel in all seven emirates. For years, tourism in the UAE has been centered in Dubai, home to Emirates Airline, the world’s biggest mall and a string of ultra-luxury hotels.

After a six-month streak as Dubai’s second-largest tourism market, inbound travel from Russia is now slowing down. Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russians have been coming in droves to havens such as Dubai or the Maldives. A year on, many of those tourists have become residents in the emirate.

Dubai’s tourism corporation has just signed a long-term collaboration with Spanish football club Real Madrid. The entrepreneurial emirate linked with the team the day after it was announced that Spain will be one of the joint-hosts for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Pre-pandemic, the cash-rich, travel-hungry Chinese tourist was a principal focus for Dubai, so much so that an entire “China Readiness” strategy was created. It included rolling out marketing campaigns on local social media app WeChat; the creation of a “Chinese Travelers Standards” training program for workers; a raft of signings with Chinese tour operators, and much more.

Dubai continues to pull ahead of its pre-pandemic tourism numbers. The emirate drew in 9.8 million international travelers up to July this year, according to the latest data from Dubai Tourism. For the same period in 2019, Dubai had 9.6 million international visitors, and in 2022, welcomed 8.1 million up to that point.