Dubai aims to achieve 2019 tourists number by 2022 end

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Dubai Tourism CEO Issam Kazim expects tourist numbers to be closer to 2019 levels by the end of 2022.

“We should start seeing numbers getting a bit more realistic from where we left off (because of the pandemic) by the end of this year or starting next,” said Kazim.

Dubai welcomed nearly four million international overnight visitors between January and March 2022, up from 1.27 million visitors for the same period last year, representing a massive 214 per cent growth.

“It shows you that the momentum is coming back, but we need to also be aware that the markets globally haven’t really come back to where they were,” said Kazim.

“Because some markets like India and Saudi Arabia were closed until very recently, we started to push markets like France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Egypt, which started to see a surge in numbers,” said Kazim. “When the other markets do come back to their full capacity, we should be able to pick up in a much better way.”