UAE – Mubasher: Total visitors to the Emirate of Dubai increased by 3% year-on-year to 8.36 million during the first six months of 2019, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Saturday.

Indians topped the emirate’s visitors in terms of volume, with the number of visitors from the subcontinent reaching 997,000 in H1-19.

"Tourism is one of the cornerstones of Dubai’s diversified economic growth, and we measure success based on our ability to aggressively advance towards our goal to be the number one most visited and most preferred city," director general of Dubai Tourism, Helal Saeed Almarri, said.

Saudi Arabians came second among Dubai’s visitors from January to the end of June, rising 2% to 755,000, compared to the year-ago period.

"Designed to counter unforeseen macro-economic variables faced by the global travel ecosystem and mitigate impediments associated with over-reliance on any one market or region, we have been long-standing proponents of a globally diversified market strategy – which continues to support our resilience as a sector,” Almarri commented.