Dubai Tourism Statistics Updated November 2026

Human Written & Fact Checked · Updated

152 Dubai Tourism Statistics for 2026

Dubai had its third record tourism year in a row in 2025, with 19.59 million international overnight visitors, hotels more than 80% full and a record 95.2 million passengers at Dubai International.

2026 has been different. From late February, what official releases call the regional situation that impacted global travel cut visitor numbers and flights sharply. Hotels and the airport have been recovering month by month since the spring.

This page gathers the official figures on Dubai tourism in one place: visitors and where they come from, hotels, flights, attractions, events, the economy and safety. Every number links to the body that published it, with the date. Where a measure or method changed, we say so and do not compare across the break.

Headline figures

  • Dubai received a record 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, up 5% on 2024 and its third record year in a row. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • December 2025 was the first month on record with more than 2 million international overnight visitors, at 2.04 million. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • Western Europe was Dubai's largest source region in 2025, with 4.1 million visitors, about one in five of the total. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • Dubai hotels averaged 80.7% occupancy in 2025, at an average daily rate of AED579. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Feb 2026)
  • Dubai had 154,264 hotel rooms across 827 establishments at the end of 2025. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Feb 2026)
  • Dubai International handled a record 95.2 million passengers in 2025, up 3.1% on 2024. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • Dubai received 6.97 million international overnight visitors in January to August 2026, a year hit by the regional situation that impacted global travel. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Sep 2026)
  • Dubai International handled 31.5 million passengers in the first half of 2026, down 31.3% on the same period of 2025. (Dubai Airports, Aug 2026)
  • Global Village welcomed a record 10.5 million guests in its 2024-25 season. (Global Village, May 2025)
  • Dubai Mall recorded footfall of 111 million in 2024. (Emaar, Feb 2025)
  • Expo 2020 Dubai recorded 24,102,967 visits over its six months, from October 2021 to March 2022. (Government of Dubai Media Office, Apr 2022)
  • The Emirates Group made a record profit before tax of AED 24.4 billion in its 2025-26 financial year. (Emirates Group, May 2026)
  • In a government survey, 99.9% of respondents said they felt safe in Dubai during the day in 2025. (Dubai Police, Jul 2026)
  • Across the whole UAE, travel and tourism makes up 11.9% of GDP, on WTTC's own estimate for the country. (WTTC, Aug 2026)

How many tourists visit Dubai each year?

Dubai has set a new visitor record every year since 2023, when it first passed its pre-pandemic peak. The count is of international overnight visitors, so it leaves out UAE residents and passengers who only change planes at the airport.

16.73m 2019 5.5m 2020 7.28m 2021 14.36m 2022 17.15m 2023 18.72m 2024 19.59m 2025
View data table
International overnight visitors to Dubai by year. Each year is from that year's DET release, linked in the figures above.
PeriodValue
201916.73m
20205.5m
20217.28m
202214.36m
202317.15m
202418.72m
202519.59m
International overnight visitors to Dubai by year. Each year is from that year's DET release, linked in the figures above. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)

DET counts international overnight visitors from hotel data. This is a different measure from airport passengers, which include people changing planes, and from UAE-wide hotel guests, which include residents. The 2020 figure is rounded in the source.

What happened to Dubai tourism in 2026?

Visitor numbers and hotel occupancy fell sharply in the spring of 2026, which DET puts down to the regional situation that impacted global travel. Both have climbed back month by month since.

36% Mar 2026 66% Aug 2026
View data table
Dubai hotel occupancy in March and August 2026, showing the climb back from the spring low.
PeriodValue
Mar 202636%
Aug 202666%
Dubai hotel occupancy in March and August 2026, showing the climb back from the spring low. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Sep 2026)
  • Dubai welcomed about 869,000 international overnight visitors in August 2026, the highest monthly total since February. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Sep 2026)
  • From January to August 2026, Western Europe supplied 20% of visitors, South Asia 17%, the GCC 16% and CIS and Eastern Europe 14%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Sep 2026)
  • Hotel occupancy fell to 36% in March 2026 and climbed back to 66% in August, 89% of the August 2025 level. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Sep 2026)
  • Hotels recorded 21.61 million occupied room nights in the first eight months of 2026, and room inventory approached 149,000 by the end of August. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Sep 2026)
  • In April 2026 hotels, hotel apartments and holiday homes were allowed to defer 100% of sales fees and the Tourism Dirham for three months from 1 April, as part of a wider AED1 billion economic incentive package. (Government of Dubai Media Office, Apr 2026)
  • DET's September 2026 release reported an AED2.5 billion government package directly supporting the tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors. (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, Sep 2026)

DET gives no year-on-year change for 2026 visitors, and no January to August 2025 total has been published to set against it, so no change is calculated here. The AED1 billion and AED2.5 billion packages were announced separately, in April and September 2026, and are not added together.

Where do Dubai's visitors come from?

Western Europe sends the most visitors, but no single region dominates: six regions each supplied at least 9% of the 2025 total. DET's recent releases give regions, not individual countries.

  1. 1 Western Europe 4.10m
  2. 2 GCC 2.99m
  3. 3 CIS and Eastern Europe 2.89m
  4. 4 South Asia 2.89m
  5. 5 MENA 2.17m
  6. 6 North East and South East Asia 1.85m
  7. 7 Americas 1.40m
  8. 8 Africa 0.90m
  9. 9 Australasia 0.40m
International overnight visitors to Dubai by source region, 2025, as DET defines the regions. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • Western Europe's total was up from 3.74 million visitors in 2024. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • The GCC states sent 2.99 million visitors in 2025 and the wider Middle East and North Africa 2.17 million, together 26% of the total. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • CIS and Eastern Europe and South Asia each sent 2.89 million visitors, 15% apiece. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • North East and South East Asia sent 1.85 million visitors, 9% of the total. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • The Americas sent 1.40 million visitors, Africa 897,000 and Australasia 401,000. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • In 2024 the fastest-growing regions were North East and South East Asia, up 24%, Africa, up 20%, and Western Europe, up 14%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2025)
  • In the first half of 2025 Western Europe supplied 2.12 million visitors (22%), the GCC 1.51 million and MENA 1.12 million. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Aug 2025)

GCC figures count visitors from other Gulf states, not UAE residents.

How has Dubai's visitor mix changed?

Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe have grown most as a share of visitors since 2019, while the GCC share swung up and down through the pandemic. The last years DET named individual countries were 2019 and 2021, and India led in both.

  1. 1 India nearly 2m
  2. 2 Saudi Arabia 1.6m
  3. 3 United Kingdom 1.2m
  4. 4 Oman over 1m
  5. 5 China 989,000
  6. 6 Russia 728,000
  7. 7 United States 667,000
  8. 8 Germany 560,000
  9. 9 Pakistan 501,000
  10. 10 Philippines 477,000
Dubai's largest source countries in 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year with a country breakdown. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Jan 2020)
  • In 2019 India sent nearly 2 million visitors, Saudi Arabia 1.6 million and the UK 1.2 million. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Jan 2020)
  • Oman passed 1 million visitors in 2019, China sent 989,000, Russia 728,000, the US 667,000 and Germany 560,000. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Jan 2020)
  • In 2019 Western Europe supplied 20% of visitors, about 3.4 million, and Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe 9%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Jan 2020)
  • In 2021, the pandemic year, India was still first with 910,000 visitors, ahead of Saudi Arabia with 491,000, Russia with 444,000 and the UK with 420,000. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2022)
  • The GCC share of visitors rose from 13% in 2021 to 21% in 2022, level with Western Europe. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2023)
  • In 2023 the GCC and MENA together supplied 28% of visitors, Western Europe 19%, South Asia 18% and CIS and Eastern Europe 13%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2024)

When is Dubai busiest?

Winter is Dubai's peak season. The busiest months on record fall between December and March, and hotel rates are highest in the first quarter.

AED638 Q1 2024 AED558 H1 2024 AED538 Full year 2024
View data table
Average daily hotel rate in Dubai in 2024: the first quarter, the first half and the full year. Rates peak in winter. From DET's quarterly, half-year and annual releases, each linked on this page.
PeriodValue
Q1 2024AED638
H1 2024AED558
Full year 2024AED538
Average daily hotel rate in Dubai in 2024: the first quarter, the first half and the full year. Rates peak in winter. From DET's quarterly, half-year and annual releases, each linked on this page. (Dubai DET (hotel release), May 2024)
  • Before December 2025, the busiest month on record was January 2025, with 1.94 million visitors. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Feb 2026)
  • December 2025 was also the busiest month in Dubai International's history, with 8.7 million passengers. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • December was the airport's busiest month of 2024 too, with 8.2 million passengers. (Dubai Airports, Jan 2025)
  • Hotels were 83% full in the first quarter of 2024, with an average daily rate of AED638. (Dubai DET (hotel release), May 2024)
  • Across the whole first half of 2024 the average rate was lower, at AED558, with occupancy of 78.7%. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Jul 2024)
  • First-quarter visitors rose from 4.67 million in 2023 to 5.18 million in 2024, up 11%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), May 2024)
  • The first quarter of 2019 had 4.75 million visitors, so the first quarter of 2023 was only 2% short of the pre-pandemic level. (Dubai DET (visitor release), May 2023)
  • Dubai had 9.88 million visitors in the first half of 2025, up 6%. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Aug 2025)
  • The first half of 2024 brought 9.31 million visitors, up 9% from 8.55 million in the first half of 2023. (Dubai DET (visitor release), Jul 2024)
  • Accommodation and food services produced AED4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025, 4.1% of Dubai GDP. (Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, Aug 2025)
  • In the third quarter of 2025 the sector grew 4.3% and made up 3% of GDP, a smaller share than in the winter quarter. (Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, Jan 2026)

DET does not publish monthly hotel occupancy, so seasonality is shown from quarterly and half-year figures and from record months.

How full are Dubai's hotels, and what do they cost?

Dubai hotels were fuller and dearer in 2025 than in any year since at least 2019. These are DET's citywide averages; private firms using their own hotel samples publish different numbers.

75.3% 2019 54% 2020 67% 2021 72.9% 2022 77.4% 2023 78.2% 2024 80.7% 2025
View data table
Average Dubai hotel occupancy by year. 2024 and 2025 are from DET's 2025 release; earlier years are from the releases linked above.
PeriodValue
201975.3%
202054%
202167%
202272.9%
202377.4%
202478.2%
202580.7%
Average Dubai hotel occupancy by year. 2024 and 2025 are from DET's 2025 release; earlier years are from the releases linked above. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Feb 2026)

Occupancy and rates are DET's hospitality metrics. A room night is one room sold for one night, whatever the number of guests in it. Private-sector hotel figures use different samples and should not be compared with these.

How many hotel rooms does Dubai have, and how long do guests stay?

Dubai's hotel stock grew by about a fifth between 2019 and 2025, but barely changed in 2025 itself. The average hotel guest stays a little under four nights.

126,120 2019 126,947 2020 137,950 2021 146,496 2022 150,291 2023 154,016 2024 154,264 2025
View data table
Hotel rooms in Dubai at the end of each year. Each year is from that year's DET release, linked above.
PeriodValue
2019126,120
2020126,947
2021137,950
2022146,496
2023150,291
2024154,016
2025154,264
Hotel rooms in Dubai at the end of each year. Each year is from that year's DET release, linked above. (Dubai DET (hotel release), Feb 2026)

Room counts cover hotels and hotel apartments, not holiday homes. The holiday-home figures are the latest DET count found, for the end of March 2023. The 2020 and 2021 length-of-stay figures may not be on the same basis as later years, so they are not shown as one trend.

How do visitors get to Dubai?

Dubai International (DXB) is the main gateway, and Dubai Airports describes it as the world's busiest airport for international passengers. Many of its passengers only change planes there, so its traffic is far larger than the visitor count.

  1. 1 India 11.9m
  2. 2 Saudi Arabia 7.5m
  3. 3 United Kingdom 6.3m
  4. 4 Pakistan 4.3m
  5. 5 United States 3.3m
  6. 6 Russia 2.8m
  7. 7 China 2.5m
  8. 8 Turkey 2.2m
  9. 9 Egypt 1.8m
  10. 10 Italy 1.6m
Passengers at Dubai International by country market, 2025. These are flight markets, not visitor nationalities. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • India was DXB's largest country market in 2025, with 11.9 million passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (7.5 million), the UK (6.3 million), Pakistan (4.3 million) and the US (3.3 million). (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • London was the busiest city route, with 3.9 million passengers, ahead of Riyadh (3 million), Mumbai and Jeddah (2.4 million each) and New Delhi (2.2 million). (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • DXB recorded 454,800 flight movements in 2025, up 3.3%. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • By the end of 2025, 108 international airlines connected DXB to 291 destinations in 110 countries. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • The airport handled 86.75 million bags in 2025. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)
  • In 2024 DXB passed its 2018 high of 89.1 million passengers, with 92.3 million. (Dubai Airports, Jan 2025)
  • In 2023 DXB handled 86,994,365 passengers, up 31.7%. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2024)
  • Traffic more than doubled in 2022, up 127% to 66,069,981 passengers. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2023)
  • In 2021 DXB handled 29,110,609 passengers, up 12.7%. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2022)
  • In 2020 traffic fell 70%, to 25.9 million passengers. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2021)
  • In 2019 DXB handled 86,396,757 passengers, down 3.1%. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2020)
  • In 2017 traffic reached 88,242,099 passengers, up 5.5% on 83,654,250 in 2016. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2018)
  • In 2015 DXB handled 78,014,838 passengers, up 10.7%. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2016)
  • Dubai World Central, the city's second airport, handled more than 1.1 million passengers in 2024, up 95%. (Dubai Airports, 2025)
  • Dubai World Central is planned to reach an ultimate capacity of 260 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo a year. (Dubai Airports, 2025)
  • Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal handled 300,000 passengers in the 2022-23 cruise season, about four times its first season. (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, Nov 2023)
  • Mina Rashid and Dubai Harbour received more than 132 cruise ship calls between October 2023 and April 2024. (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, Jul 2024)

Airport passengers count arrivals, departures and transfers, so they are not a count of visitors. The Dubai Harbour figure is for one terminal, as reported by its operator, not the citywide cruise total.

How did Dubai's airport fare in 2026?

DXB traffic dropped steeply in March 2026 under regional airspace constraints, then rose every month from April. Dubai Airports has since cut its forecast for the year.

2.5m Mar 3.5m Apr 4.5m May 5.0m Jun 6.3m Jul
View data table
Monthly passengers at Dubai International, March to July 2026, from the Dubai Airports releases linked above.
PeriodValue
Mar2.5m
Apr3.5m
May4.5m
Jun5.0m
Jul6.3m
Monthly passengers at Dubai International, March to July 2026, from the Dubai Airports releases linked above. (Dubai Airports, Aug 2026)
  • DXB handled 18.6 million passengers in the first quarter of 2026, down 20.6%. March alone had 2.5 million, down 65.7%, after disruption began on 28 February. (Dubai Airports, May 2026)
  • Monthly passengers rose from 3.5 million in April to 4.5 million in May and 5 million in June. (Dubai Airports, Aug 2026)
  • Aircraft movements fell 32.1% to 150,600 in the first half of 2026, and cargo fell 28.7% to 751,340 tonnes. (Dubai Airports, Aug 2026)
  • In the first half, almost 50 international airlines connected DXB to 217 destinations in 99 countries. (Dubai Airports, Aug 2026)
  • July 2026 brought 6.3 million passengers, an increase of 26% in a single month. (Dubai Airports, Sep 2026)
  • By September, airline capacity was back to 84% of previous levels and passenger volumes to 78%. (Dubai Airports, Sep 2026)
  • Dubai Airports now expects around 70 million passengers in 2026, and 100 million a year by the end of 2027. (Dubai Airports, Sep 2026)
  • In February 2026, before the disruption, it had forecast traffic approaching 99.5 million for the year. (Dubai Airports, Feb 2026)

The February forecast was made before the disruption and has been replaced by the September forecast.

How many passengers does Emirates carry?

Emirates, Dubai's home airline, carried slightly fewer passengers in its 2025-26 year and far fewer in the six months to September 2026. Its figures cover its whole network and run from April to March, so they do not match calendar-year visitor counts.

  • Emirates carried 53.2 million passengers in 2025-26, down 1%, with a seat factor of 78.4%. (Emirates Group, May 2026)
  • In 2024-25 it carried 53.7 million passengers, up 3%, with a seat factor of 78.9%. (Emirates Group, May 2025)
  • Group revenue was AED 150.5 billion in 2025-26, and the workforce grew 8% to 130,919. (Emirates Group, May 2026)
  • At 31 March 2026 the Emirates network covered 152 cities in 80 countries. (Emirates Group, May 2026)
  • Between April and September 2026 Emirates carried 21.8 million passengers, down 22%, with a seat factor of 72.0% against 79.5% a year earlier. (Emirates Group, Nov 2026)
  • At 30 September 2026 the airline was operating 91% of its pre-disruption network. (Emirates Group, Nov 2026)

The Emirates Group covers the Emirates airline and dnata. Passenger counts include people changing planes in Dubai.

What are Dubai's most visited attractions?

Dubai's biggest crowds go to its malls, its seasonal Global Village and its landmark sights. Operators count visits, which include residents and repeat trips, so these are not counts of tourists.

10m Season 28 (2023-24) 10.5m Season 29 (2024-25)
View data table
Guests at Global Village by season. The park opens each winter, from October to May.
PeriodValue
Season 28 (2023-24)10m
Season 29 (2024-25)10.5m
Guests at Global Village by season. The park opens each winter, from October to May. (Global Village, May 2025)
  • Global Village had 10 million guests in its previous season, 2023-24. (Global Village, May 2025)
  • The Museum of the Future was nearing 5 million visitors in total by its fourth anniversary in February 2026. (Museum of the Future, Feb 2026)
  • It had passed 4 million visitors, from more than 180 nationalities, by August 2025. (Museum of the Future, Aug 2025)
  • Dubai Frame received 1.59 million visitors in 2024. (Dubai Municipality, Feb 2025)
  • In the first half of 2025 Dubai Frame welcomed 748,000 visitors and Quranic Park about 813,000, while all Municipality parks and facilities drew more than 16.7 million. (Dubai Municipality, Aug 2025)
  • Dubai Frame has welcomed about 8.8 million visitors since it opened. (Dubai Municipality, Sep 2026)
  • Expo City Dubai recorded 366,814 ticketed visitors in 2025. (Expo City Dubai, 2025)

Mall footfall counts entries, and the Museum of the Future figures are cumulative since it opened in February 2022. Expo City Dubai's figure covers ticketed visitors only.

How big are Dubai's events and conferences?

Dubai has won more international conference bids each year since 2023, and its largest trade shows draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands. Bids won are for events in future years, not events already held.

349 2023 437 2024 504 2025
View data table
Conference and meeting bids won by Dubai Business Events each year, from DET's annual releases.
PeriodValue
2023349
2024437
2025504
Conference and meeting bids won by Dubai Business Events each year, from DET's annual releases. (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, Feb 2026)

Trade-show and venue figures count attendances, not unique people, and the DFC fitness event counts residents. The New Year crowd is the operator's estimate.

What is tourism worth to Dubai's economy?

Dubai does not publish one figure for tourism's share of its economy. The nearest official measure is the accommodation and food services sector, which leaves out flights and shopping, so it understates tourism's full weight.

The AED937 billion GDP figure uses the revised method and cannot be compared with Dubai GDP totals published before it. The accommodation and food services figures are from the earlier series, at constant prices.

How does Dubai fit into UAE tourism?

National figures cover all seven emirates and include UAE residents staying in hotels, so they are not comparable with Dubai's visitor count. The WTTC figures are the council's own economic estimates for the whole UAE.

30.75m 2024 32.34m 2025
View data table
Hotel guests across the whole UAE, including residents, 2024 and 2025.
PeriodValue
202430.75m
202532.34m
Hotel guests across the whole UAE, including residents, 2024 and 2025. (UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Apr 2026)
  • Hotels across the UAE had 32.34 million guests in 2025, up 5.2% from 30.75 million in 2024. (UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Apr 2026)
  • UAE hotel revenue rose 9.7% to AED 49.21 billion in 2025, with occupancy of 79.3%. (UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Apr 2026)
  • UAE hotels recorded more than 110.62 million guest nights in 2025 and had 217,000 rooms at the end of the year. (UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Apr 2026)
  • The national tourism strategy targets 40 million hotel guests and AED100 billion of extra tourism investment in 2031. (Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, May 2023)
  • WTTC estimates that travel and tourism supports 13.6% of all UAE employment, and puts international visitor spending at nearly $57 billion. (WTTC, Aug 2026)
  • WTTC forecasts Middle East travel and tourism GDP to fall 14.5% in 2026, from $386 billion to $330 billion, the only region expected to shrink. (WTTC, Aug 2026)

All figures in this section are UAE-wide. WTTC figures are modelled estimates from its latest release, not official statistics, and are kept apart from Dubai's own figures.

How safe is Dubai for visitors?

People in Dubai report feeling very safe, by day and at night, in a government survey. The official figures available are survey and police service measures, not recorded-crime counts.

21.7 2007 1.8 2024
View data table
Road deaths in Dubai per 100,000 people, 2007 and 2024.
PeriodValue
200721.7
20241.8
Road deaths in Dubai per 100,000 people, 2007 and 2024. (RTA and Dubai Police, Apr 2025)
  • 98.7% said they felt safe walking at night, and Dubai Police scored 98.2% on its Security Quality of Life Index. (Dubai Police, Jul 2026)
  • The police command centre handled more than 1.46 million calls in the last quarter of 2025, and answered 99.5% of emergency calls in under 10 seconds. (Dubai Police, Jan 2026)
  • A year earlier, in the last quarter of 2024, 91.1% of emergency calls were answered that fast. (Dubai Police, Jan 2026)
  • Dubai Police returned 171,490 lost items to their owners in 2025, out of 868,110 found items it handled. (Dubai Police, Mar 2026)
  • Road deaths fell from 21.7 per 100,000 people in 2007 to 1.8 in 2024. (RTA and Dubai Police, Apr 2025)
  • Deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles fell from 4.2 to 0.45 over the same period. (RTA and Dubai Police, Apr 2025)

The safety scores come from a perception survey run by the UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, not from recorded crime. Road death rates are per resident, not per visitor.

Glossary

DET
Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, the government body that publishes the city's visitor and hotel figures.
International overnight visitor
A visitor from outside the UAE who stays at least one night in Dubai, as counted by DET.
DXB
Dubai International Airport, the city's main airport.
DWC
Dubai World Central, or Al Maktoum International, the city's second airport.
GCC
Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
MENA
Middle East and North Africa.
CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States, a group of former Soviet countries that includes Russia.
ADR
Average daily rate, the average price paid for a hotel room per night.
RevPAR
Revenue per available room, room revenue divided by all rooms available, sold or not.
FDI
Foreign direct investment, money from abroad put into businesses and projects.
Tourism Dirham
A fee Dubai charges on each night of a hotel or holiday-home stay.
WTTC
World Travel and Tourism Council, an industry body that publishes modelled estimates of tourism's economic impact.

Methodology and sources

Figures come from official bodies, chiefly the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, Dubai Airports, Dubai Police and the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, plus operators that publish their own counts. DET figures link to the releases on the Government of Dubai Media Office, the emirate's official press channel, and are labelled by release type. UAE-wide figures, including WTTC's modelled estimates, are labelled as national and kept apart from Dubai figures. Where a method changed, as with Dubai GDP in 2025, figures are not compared across the break. The page is reviewed monthly and the date is shown at the top.