A total of 1.47 million visitors came to Dubai in January of this year, as Russia continued to be the second-largest tourist source market for the Emirate.
Compared to last year, Dubai registered an increase of 63 percent increase in tourist arrivals, where 115,000 Russians visited it for tourism alone, VisaGuide.World reports.
Regarding the number of other international guests, they mostly come from India, with 186,000, while the third largest market was Saudi Arabia, with 98,000 visitors.
Data from travel analytics firm ForwardKeys also revealed that in 2022, air traffic between Moscow and Dubai grew by 228 percent compared to the pre-pandemic figures.
Such figures show that, in comparison with 1.47 million overnight visitors registered in Dubai during January of this year, 2019 ended with a total of 1.6 million, which is 50 percent more than the 980,000 visitors of January 2022.
Previously, VisaGuide.World reported that soon those who wish to visit Dubai would be exempted from the requirement to present a passport, following the introduction of the new biometric system that facilitates travel procedures.
In this regard, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDRFA) launched a new system that removes the need for a passport or other boarding pass at Dubai airports.
However, for a trip to Dubai, most travelers might need a UAE visa, though it depends on which country they are coming from, as the UAE government allows citizens of several world countries to enter Dubai without a visa for short stays.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) said that by 2024 business travel spending in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The same source noted that business travel in the region is recovering faster than any other region, reaching 86 percent of its 2019 levels last year and outpacing the recovery in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe.
At the same time, during 2022, business travel spending reached $933 billion globally, which is 65 percent of the $1.4 trillion business travel spending in 2019, with the Middle East and Africa accounting for $23 billion or approximately 2.5 percent of general expenditures within the sector.
Moreover, Egyptian Tourism Minister Ahmed Issa revealed that his country is expecting record numbers of tourists this year and aims to attract 30 million visitors by 2028, adding that Egypt also expects to boost tourism by expanding flight capacity and increasing the capacity of rooms.
Issa also stressed that Egypt had used digitization to make the regulation of health and safety standards better and more efficient and to ensure that the private sector has fair access to the market.
Further, Tourism Minister Issa also pointed out that Egypt will take several steps to facilitate the increase in room capacity for private investors. The latter will expand tourism products for individual travelers as well.
According to online travel marketplace Wego, airfares from the United Arab Emirates are expected to increase this year. Citing its data, Wego said cheap flights might be harder to come by as prices for flights to India and the UK have already risen between 13 percent and 32 percent.
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