The Finance World Magazine| Edition: March 2023

Tourism
December 2022 consisted of 146,496
rooms, up from 126,120 rooms available
at the end of December 2019 across 741
establishments. The total number of
hotels in 2022 grew by 6% over 2021; the
hotel sector performed better than it had
before the pandemic, with occupancy
levels reaching a new record and rates
and revenue increasing.
One factor that has helped Dubai
achieve its successful 2022 bid is the
widespread use of celebrity endorsements
and marketing campaigns that have
featured stars from around the world,
helping to make the city more appealing
to potential visitors. One well-known
example is Dubai Presents, a series of
short movies shot in locations around
Dubai that feature Hollywood stars like
Jessica Alba and Zac Efron. In addition,
the ‘Where the World Celebrates’ global
campaign that coincided with the FIFA
World Cup in Qatar featured French
football star Karim Benzema.
Moreover, the successful hosting of Expo
2020 Dubai was a major contributor to the
region’s tourism industry’s outstanding
performance in 2022. The six-month long
event attracted over 24 million visitors
and once again demonstrated Dubai’s
ability to host major global events.
Dubai is continuing to enhance its
destination proposition by hosting a
variety of global business and leisure
events in 2022. In addition to Expo 2020,
the city has also hosted Gulfood, the
World Government Summit, Binance
Blockchain Week, Gitex Global Dubai,
the International Boat Show, and the
Arabian Travel Market. Additionally, the
Dubai Tourism Summit was announced
in December. The Dubai Festivals and
Retail Establishment team organizes a
variety of festivals and events every year,
including the iconic Dubai Shopping
Festival, Dubai Food Festival, Dubai
Summer Surprises, and Dubai Fitness
Challenge.
In 2022, the Dubai Esports Festival
was also launched, which is the largest
international esports tournament to be
held in the region. Dubai is a leading
tourist destination for sports lovers, with
an extensive line-up of annual global
sports tournaments and events.
Dubai is positioning itself as a sustainable
destination, and in 2022 worked diligently
to meet its goals. One initiative, Dubai
Sustainable Tourism, aims to raise the
city’s profile as a leading sustainable
destination. Dubai also takes steps to
contribute to the city’s broader clean
energy targets and the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals 2030,
and to the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 strategy.
In addition, in 2022 Dubai launched
“Dubai Can,” an innovative citywide
sustainability initiative. This year will
be key for advancing Dubai’s vision to
transform the emirate into a leading
sustainable destination and the world’s
best city to live and work.
Moreover, cruise and yacht tourism
played a significant role in attracting
international tourists to Dubai in 2022,
helping to solidify the city’s position as
a global travel hub. The expansion of
the cruise industry has helped to cement
Dubai’s status as the regional cruise
hub, and its world-class infrastructure,
advanced facilities, year-round sunshine,
luxury marinas, award-winning tourism
offerings, rich maritime history and
picturesque coastline continue to make
it a popular destination for superyacht
owners.
The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan aims
to expand the city’s tourism offering by
100%, and in return, the city is planning
to launch new initiatives in line with
the UAE 2031 Tourism Strategy, which
seeks to attract 40 million guests by 2031.
This will increase Dubai’s contribution
to the UAE’s GDP by 450 billion. Dubai
is continuing to promote the growth of
tourism by making it easy for business
and leisure travelers to get into the city.
This includes issuing a 60-day tourist
visa from September 2022 and a Five-
Year Multi-Entry Visa for employees of
multinational companies.
106 www.thefinanceworld.com March 2023