According to Euromonitor's latest ranking of the Top 100 City Destinations, Dubai was the 6th most visited city in the world last year that attracted around 14.9 million visitors to the country.
The report that was released on Tuesday shows that Dubai now draws in more visitors than many other places on earth, including Paris and New York.
Dubai, the UAE's most-populous city, has moved up from 7th in 2016, to 6th in 2017, overtaking attractive tourist destinations such as Rome, Dublin, Munich, Lisbon, and Tokyo.
Dubai was the only Middle Eastern city that ranked amongst the top 10 and is expected to attract more than 26 million visitors by 2025, surpassing London, which is currently in 3rd place.
For the eighth year in a row, Hong Kong held on to its title as the world's most visited city, followed by Bangkok, London, Singapore, and Macau.
The World's Top 10 City Destinations:
Euromonitor’s report also shows that the overall number of tourists visiting Dubai has jumped by 11.2 percent, from 14.9 million in 2016 to more than 16.5 million in 2017, making it a far more popular destination of choice for travelers compared to most cities on earth.
“Dubai seems insulated from all the turmoil that is going on around it. The city’s tourism industry is booming,” Euromonitor said.
Outside of the UAE, Saudi Arabia had 3 cities featured in the top ranks of the Arab world as well as Egypt, Qatar, Palestine, and Morrocco.
Below is the ranking for the Arab world's top 9 city destinations:
- Dubai (UAE)
- Mecca (KSA)
- Riyadh (KSA)
- Dammam (KSA)
- Cairo (Egypt)
- Doha (Qatar)
- Jerusalem (Palestine)
- Marrakech (Morrocco)
- Abu Dhabi (UAE)
The UAE is leading the region in most tourism related sectors
Last month, winners of the World Travel Awards for the Middle East were announced. Dubai-based Emirates Airline took the title of the region’s leading airline and Dubai was named the region’s leading tourist destination.
The red-carpet event took place at the Armani Hotel in Dubai and attracted close to 400 leaders from the travel and tourism sector.
The winners were chosen by popular votes from travel professionals, industry leaders, and consumer travelers.
Here is a list of all the UAE-based winners of the of the World Travel Awards:
- Leading tourist attraction: Burj Khalifa, Dubai
- Leading airport in the Middle East: Dubai International Airport (DXB)
- Leading hotel 2017: Jumeirah Al Qasr at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
- Leading luxury hotel 2017: Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
- Leading theme park: Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi
- Most romantic resort 2017: One&Only The Palm, Dubai
- Leading all-suite hotel: Burj Al Arab, Dubai
- Leading beach destination: Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi
- Leading business travel agency: dnata Travel, Dubai
- Leading lifestyle hotel: Armani Hotel DXB, Dubai
- Leading first-class airline: Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi
- Leading airline overall: Emirates Airlines, Dubai
- Leading destination: Dubai