Dubai: Tourism sector hit new records in 2025

• Dubai tourism hit a record 19.6m visitors in 2025, with growth moderating but outlook still positive on stronger connectivity, hotel expansion, and a weaker dollar.
• Europe and the GCC remained the largest source markets, while South Asia saw a notable dip due to tighter visa rules, likely to reverse over time.
• Strong aviation capacity, high hotel occupancy, rising room revenues, and solid PMI readings point to tourism continuing to support Dubai’s GDP growth.

2025 was another record year for Dubai tourism, with a total of 19.59mn visitors representing y/y growth of 4.6%. While this marks the slowest pace of expansion since the pandemic, it is coming off successive years of particularly strong growth, with the 9.2% rise in visitors in 2024 following 19.4% in 2023. Looking ahead to this year, we are bullish on the prospects for Dubai’s tourism sector, expecting that growth will be supported by continued expansion in hospitality provisions, increased aviation connectivity, and a weaker dollar.

The results of the S&P Global PMI survey for Dubai chime with the headline visitor numbers, with the tourism subcomponent averaging 53.1 last year. This is comfortably above the neutral 50.0 line, indicating ongoing expansion, but at a moderately slower pace than in 2024, when the index averaged 55.1.

Full-year GDP figures for Dubai have not yet been released, and tourism does not have its own specific account line in the national accounts data, but the sector most associated with it – hotels & restaurants – saw y/y growth of 4.7% over the first three quarters of 2025, and the metrics released by the DTCM suggest another strong quarter in Q4. For full-year 2025, average hotel occupancy in Dubai was 80.7%, up from 78.2% the previous year, and there was an 11% rise in revenue per available room to AED 467, from AED 421 in 2024...

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