Oman fourth largest source market for visitors to Dubai
(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat-
Oman is the fourth largest source market for visitors to Dubai with a total of 598,000 people visiting the neighbouring city from January to June.
This is a 23 per cent rise over the same period last year when the figure was 486,000, which makes the sultanate the source country with the highest growth. Dubai welcomed 7.27mn visitors till June as against 7.25mn recorded in 2015 for the same period, backed by continuous growth from India and Saudi Arabia, the two largest source markets for the Emirate, according to Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism). Overall, GCC is the largest source market providing 24 per cent of all visitors, followed by Western Europe with 22 per cent, South Asia (17 per cent), MENA (11 per cent) and North and South East Asia (nine per cent) among others. India continues to be the largest source market registering an eight per cent rise over 2015 with 865,000 visitors, followed by Saudi Arabia with 755,000 visitors, a rise of four per cent, UK at 604,000, a rise of three per cent, Oman at fourth and the US with 298,000 visitors, a decline of four per cent, making the top five. Pakistan was sixth with 278,000 visitors followed by China, Germany, Iran and Kuwait, figuring in the top ten. In the GCC, Kuwait followed Saudi Arabia and Oman, with 199,000 visitors, a fall of seven per cent, Qatari visitors registered an increase of ten per cent from 85,000 in 2015 to 94,000 this year. Bahrain was not among the top 20 source market that was listed by Dubai Tourism. Dubai got off to a great start this year with a host of projects, initiatives and events spearheading the destination's visitor attraction programme. January and February saw more additions to Dubai's annual festival calendar, following a reinvigorated Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Food Festival, along with the launch of the XYoga Festival Dubai. Dubai's retail landscape continues to evolve, with numerous new shopping areas and international brands, such as City Walk 2, Box Park and The Beach complex in Jumeirah Beach Residence, adding to Dubai's already strong offering made up of over 95 malls as well as traditional Arabian souqs. With close to 400,000sq m of additional retail space scheduled to be completed this year across Dubai, other major retail developments include the 1.9mn sq m Dragon Mart 2 extension as well as the upcoming Outlet Village which will feature alongside a number of theme parks opening and Dubai Mall - Phase 2. Dubai's accommodation portfolio also saw growth with 676 establishments in operation as of March, representing 98,949 rooms across all hotel and hotel apartment categories. New hotel openings, such as the Palazzo Versace and The St Regis Dubai, ensure the city maintains its reputation for luxury, while a host of new mid-market hotels are expanding options available to visitors.