Dubai Tourism: Strong start to 2022

Dubai’s tourism sector in 2022 is kicking off to a robust start with tourist arrivals doubling in January 2022 compared to last year.  While there remain tail-risks to the tourism sector from the pandemic, the Covid-19 dynamics appear to be easing following the sharp resurgence which began late last year as the Omicron variant spread. The geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe may cause some headwinds to tourist arrivals from that region, however given the fluidity of the situation it will be difficult to ascertain the exact impact. Moreover, given Dubai remains geographically isolated from the tensions, the wider trends of global travel recovery are likely to drive growth in tourism from other markets.  The UAE has managed Covid-19 dynamics extremely well, with 97% of the UAE population fully vaccinated, and the country maintained its place on the top Bloomberg's Covid Resilience Ranking in February.

Data published by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) showed Dubai attracted 979,700 international tourists in January, a growth of 116.6% y/y compared to the same month last year. In terms of key source markets Saudi Arabia ranked 1^st (105,000 visitors, up 5645% y/y), the surge reflects the easing of strict Covid restrictions that were in place last January in the Kingdom.  India was the second largest source market for Dubai (73,000, -41% y/y), followed by Russia (70,000, +157% y/y) and the UK (58,000, +102% y/y) and Oman (48,000, +369% y/y).

Tourism arrivals from regional markets (MENA and GCC) contributed to 31% of the total volumes, reinforcing Dubai’s continued appeal to travellers from the near region. Western Europe accounted for 24% of total visitors in January 2022, South Asia contributed 13% of total international visitors with Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe contributing 17%.

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