By: Mahmoud Gamal

Dubai – Mubasher: The number of Arab tourists who visit the emirate of Dubai has increased on a yearly basis, reflecting the attractiveness of the city to the Middle East’s visitors, data by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) showed.

Arab visitors to the outstanding emirate reached around 1.22 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019, compared to 921,000 tourists in Q1-18, according to a poll conducted by Mubasher for the DTCM.

The Arab tourists accounted for 26% of total visitors to Dubai, which amounted to 4.75 million people during the first three months of 2019, the poll revealed.

Saudi tourists have topped Arab visitors who have been to the emirate in Q1-19, amounting to around 412,000, compared to 434,000 in Q1-18.

The number of Omani visitors to Dubai rose by 27% year-on-year in the three-month period ended 31 March 2019 to nearly 263,000 people, versus 207,000.

Meanwhile, visitors from Kuwait came in third place with nearly 107,000 people, versus about 112,000 visitors in the same quarter of 2018.

Egyptian tourists who visited the GCC emirate in Q1-19 reached around 87,000, versus 82,000 people in the year-ago period.

On the other hand, the number of Jordanian tourists fell to 51,000 in Q1-19, compared to 54,000 people in Q1-18.

On Monday, the DTCM announced that Dubai welcomed around 4.75 million visitors in Q1-19, up 2% year-on-year from 4.65 million.

In April, the DTCM revealed that the number of tourists who visited Dubai in February leapt by 5% to around 1.53 million visitors per night.

Over the course of 2018, Dubai welcomed around 15.92 million visitors, compared to 15.79 million a year earlier.

The DTCM previously stated that Indians and Saudis topped tourists who visited the emirate last year.

Dubai Tourism Vision 2022-2025, approved by the emirate’s executive council, aims to attract 21 to 23 million visitors by 2022 and around 23 to 25 visitors by 2025.

Translated by: Mai Ezz El-Din