By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai – Mubasher: Dubai has topped the most visited destinations by European tourists due to the annual increase in the emirate’s arrivals as compared with other cities across the world.
With its various tourism services and outstanding hotspots, Dubai has been able to attract more European tourists in the first quarter of 2019.
The number of European visitors to the emirate amounted to 1.01 million in Q1-19, accounting for 21.4% of total visitors that reached around 4.75 million people.
Reputation
Dubai is globally well-known for its great reputation and remarkable high-quality services, which attract European tourists, mainly from the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, experts told Mubasher.
The European tourist likes the unusual mix of cultural diversity and heritage in the emirate and prefers shopping there for being exempted from taxes, they highlighted.
Famous shopping centres are available everywhere across Dubai, offering a wide range of prices and brands that suit different visitors.
UK leads
The British tourists to Dubai topped the European tourists with around 327,000 people who visited the emirate in Q1-19, data by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) showed.
The German visitors claimed the third spot with 204,000 visiting the GCC emirate in Q1-19, while the number of French tourists rose by 17% to 121,000 in the same quarter.
Moreover, the number of Italians who visited Dubai increased by 1% to 81,000 from 80,000 in Q1-18, according to the DTCM.
The number of Dutch tourists who visited Dubai in the first three months of the year rose 6% year-on-year to 48,000.
On the other hand, Dubai has welcomed around 234,000 Russians in Q1-19, down 10% from 259,000 in the same period of 2018.
Yassin Diab, general manager of Al Faisal Travel & Tourism Agency, said that European tourists usually go on vacations in the period between October and April.
They look for warm weather in an exotic city outside Europe which is known for its cold climate, Diab highlighted.
The European tourism in Dubai is ongoing all over the year, but it notably shrinks during the summer, the June-September period of each year, he pointed out.
Dubai attracts tourists who enjoy safari tours and Arabian nights in the desert, as well as the Emirati cuisine, traditional markets, museums, and camel and horse racing.
Translated by: Mai Ezz El-Din
