Dubai is a top choice for Saudi tourists and their number is expected to increase by almost 100 per cent, that is 2.5 million, by 2020, an Emirati official has said, citing current economic forecasts.
“The number of Saudi tourists in Dubai was 1.5 million in 2015,” Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, was quoted as saying by local media on Saturday.
Kazim said that visitors to Dubai from the GCC countries topped the list, making up 25 per cent of the total number of tourists from around the world in the first quarter of this year, with 456,000 Saudis visiting between January and March, a 14 per cent increase as compared to the corresponding period last year.
Next came Oman with 322,000 tourists, demonstrating an increase of 32 per cent, Kuwait maintained its position in the top ten list at 119,000, while Qatar showed an increase of 26 per cent.
Kazim said the Indian subcontinent maintained its position with 17 percent of all tourists to Dubai in the first quarter of this year, totaling 467,000, and came second place on the top ten list of principal country tourists to the UAE.
The number of visitors to Dubai from the United States was recorded at 166,000 for the first quarter of this year while China saw a rise of 4 per cent. Iran was the only country which saw a decline in the number of visitors to Dubai.
