15.3 million tourists, 2.7 million residents : A new trend for Dubai

15.3 million tourists for a city with 2.7 million people. This is Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. So far in 2017 Destination Dubai has an increase of 11 per cent in international tourism arrival. From January to March Dubai received 4.57 million visitors, double from the number booked the year befofe.

New official data published by Dubai Economy has projected that the local tourism is expected to grow five per cent and 5.1 per cent in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The emirate expects to receive 20 million tourists by 2020 while Expo 2020 event is likely to see 25 million visitors during the event.

A recent report produced by finance body ICAEW and Oxford Economics claimed that the UAE economy is benefitting from the growth in tourism sector at a better rate than other Gulf economies. According to On The Go Tours data, Paris tops with 2.2 million population receiving 18 million visitors which is an increase of 704 per cent followed by Kuala Lumpur with 1.7 million residents welcoming 12 million tourists, an increase of 595 per cent.

Among the other cities which receive more foreign tourists than the population of the city in terms of higher percentage are Milan, Barcelona, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, Taipei, Osaka, Bangkok, Rome, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Istanbul, New York and Shanghai, the data showed.