For Dubai, the tourism market has historically been a strategically important sector. Knight Frank’s Hub Report focuses on benchmarking Dubai against other key global cities- New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney- across key sectors. In the recent report, Knight Frank looks at the development of one of the most important economic sectors in Dubai – tourism.

At a glance:

• Dubai International Airport is the world’s largest airport by international traffic, recorded 88 million passengers in 2017
• Currently, Dubai is home to 104 five star-hotels (Dubai Corporation of Tourism & Commerce Marketing)
• STR global indicates there are 53 hotels five-star hotels in planning or construction with opening dates before 2020
• Dubai’s average spend per overnight visitor is estimated to be over $US2,000 

It was estimated that the sector contributed over 4.6% of GDP, or AED150billion. In 2017, and provided almost 4.8% of total employment with 570,000 jobs. Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP has increased by 138% in the 10 years to 2017 with employment in the sector growing by 119% over the same period.

This development has been driven by the growing level of connectivity that Dubai International Airport (DXB) enables. DXB, the world’s largest airport by international traffic, recorded 83.7 million passengers in 2016, up 26% from 2014. In 2017 this has increased further to over 88 million passengers. 

A major facilitator of this is the home-grown Emirates Airline – which demonstrates how successfully establishing transport options can bring a city to global attention. From modest beginnings in 1985 with only two leased planes, Emirates now has a modern fleet of 259 wide-body aircraft and flies to over 150 destinations on six continents with. Assuming its historic growth rate continues, Knight Frank expects that DXB will reach its 2020 goal of 100 million passengers.

Currently, Dubai is home to 104 five star-hotels as per Dubai Corporation of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, established itself as one of the most luxurious destinations in the world. Forecasts indicate that there are another 53 five-star hotels in planning or construction with opening dates before 2020.

In addition to this, Dubai’s average spend per overnight visitor is estimated to be over $US2,000 in 2017, the highest amongst the report’s global hub cities.

Click here to read more about the residential property sector in Knight Frank's ‘The Hub Report'.

The total number of hotel keys per resident is highest amongst the report’s notable global hubs. Image credit: Knight Frank

Examining further into Dubai’s hotel sector, the total number of hotel keys per resident is highest amongst the report’s notable global hub cities at 29.9 per 1,000 in Dubai. Although this is not a surprise given the disparity in populations between Dubai and these cities, what is surprising is the speed at which the number of keys has grown, up 150% in the 10 years to 2017.

Ali Manzoor, Associate Partner, Head of Hospitality commented on the Dubai hospitality market’s recent performance and outlook, “Despite facing challenging market conditions, Dubai’s hospitality sector remains amongst the top performers in the Middle East, underpinned by the Emirate’s positioning as a regional commercial hub and the development of world-class demand generators. Visitation has, for the most part, continued to grow from key source markets, with India and China notable standouts, and Russian visitation continuing its positive momentum from the previous year.  We remain optimistic about the future outlook for the sector, and envisage that the market will once again stabilise once the rate correction has run its course.”

The report also details other key indicators such as the residential property sector, quality of transport infrastructure, education and lifestyle factors. To see the full Knight Frank report, click here.

For more information email Taimur Khan, Senior Analyst at Knight Frank.

See also:

Dubai’s status as a global hub continues to strengthen

Strong demand for luxury real estate in Dubai to continue for the foreseeable future

Dubai's most popular areas to live revealed