Source markets: who comes to the UAE and how to reach them

Source markets78 min read · Sources & credits

In this chapter

Chapter 04

This chapter explains where the UAE's hotel guests come from and how much of each market's outbound travel the UAE attracts. It examines how travellers from each market book, pay, stay and spend, and which platforms they use. This helps hotels identify suitable markets and decide how to reach them. Dubai received 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, and its tourism authority names India, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Russia, in that order, as its largest markets (DET via Gulf News; Shahab Shayan, Regional Director DCTCM, via Gulf News). The headline releases publish regions, not countries, but market-specific releases give the UK 1,327,000 visitors in 2024, China 824,000 in 2024 and Russia 1.4 million in 2025, alongside India's 2.46 million in 2023 (DET via Gulf News; DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole). Each count carries its own year, because no single-year country table for 2024 or 2025 has been published, and the counts are not ranked against each other as if they described the same year.

In brief

Dubai's 2025 mix by region: Western Europe 4.1m (21%), then GCC, CIS and Eastern Europe and South Asia at 2.99m, 2.89m and 2.89m (15% each), MENA 2.17m (11%) and four smaller regions (DET via Gulf News).
The only country counts DET publishes are in market releases: UK 1,327,000 in 2024 (+14%) and 1.04m for January to September 2025 (+13%, one in 13 tourists) (DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole, 2023; DET via Emarat Al Youm via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2025); China 824,000 in 2024 (+31%) (DET via Xinhua via AGBI); Russia 1.4m in 2025 (+9%) (DET via ATOR Telegram); India 2.46m in 2023 (+34%) (DET via IANS / PTI). A Saudi daily reports 1.9 million Saudi visitors to the UAE as a whole in 2024, attributed to the federal minister; it is not a Dubai count (Sabq).
Abu Dhabi publishes counts: India 436,124 hotel guests in 2025 (+22%), Russia 257,200, UK 250,906, China 248,494, Saudi Arabia 200,652; Russians stay longest at 4.3 nights against a 2.9-night average (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN, 2025; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office, 2025). The release's 13% share for India has an unclear denominator and is not used.
In January to August 2026 Dubai's visitors fell 44% to 6.97m (DET, via Skift, Jan to Aug 2026); South Asia (17%) and the GCC (16%) moved ahead of CIS and Eastern Europe (14%), with Western Europe at 20% (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Aug 2026). Hoteliers describe India, China and Russia, five to six flight hours away, as the recovery markets (Skift, quoting Saurabh Tiwari, VP Middle East, IHCL, 2026).
India: the UAE took 26.3% of 32.71m Indian departures in 2025, the largest single destination; departures count trips of all purposes, not leisure arrivals; on MakeMyTrip, 56% of Indian international hotel rooms are booked under 14 days ahead and close to half cost more than INR 7,000 a night; in a survey of 2,000 Indian respondents, 53% call YouTube vlogs their most influential inspiration source.
Saudi Arabia: Dubai took 13% of Saudi summer 2025 outbound travellers, second to Manama at 20%; more than 75% of Almosafer room nights are at four and five star hotels, the app is 70% of transactions, Apple Pay is 36% of bookings and BNPL 25%; YouTube reaches 79.4% and Snapchat 72.1% of Saudis (DataReportal Digital 2025 Saudi Arabia, Jan 2025).
United Kingdom: 54% of UK adults booked a package in the past year and 61% of those going abroad did so; the UAE was visited by 6% of UK adults, one of only three long-haul destinations in ABTA's list; Emirates alone flies 133+ weekly UK services (Emirates via Gulf News, late 2025).
Russia: published totals for Russian visitors range from 1.4 million (Dubai only, DET via a trade workshop, 2025) to around 2.4 million (UAE-wide, UAE Embassy Moscow, 2025), depending on scope and definition; in Abu Dhabi, Mabrian estimates 42.7% of Russian stays are five star; Mir card acceptance in the UAE rests on a 2021 announcement and its current status is not established, so accepted payment methods should be confirmed with the payment provider (TRBusiness; FTN News, 2025).
China: 824,000 Dubai visitors in 2024 (+31%) were still below the 2019 level of 989,000; more than half travel independently (DET via Xinhua via AGBI; compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics); Ctrip (69%) and Xiaohongshu (66%) are the main information sources (Dragon Trail, 2025); Alipay+ runs on 50,000+ UAE merchants (Network International, 2023).
Residents: among UAE-resident Visa cardholders over Eid Al Adha 2025 (5 to 8 June), 87% opted for short trips, Visa-observed domestic spend rose 68% across all categories (restaurants and shopping included, not hotels alone), and Dubai took 70% of that Visa-observed domestic spend, which is not a share of UAE hotel revenue; Sharjah's domestic guests were 11% of hotel guests (Jan to Aug 2024) and Abu Dhabi's 22% (Jan to Aug 2023) (SCTDA, Jan-Aug 2024; DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023); Dubai publishes no resident share.

1. How the authorities report source markets

There are three levels of reporting, and their figures are not directly comparable. Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) reports international overnight visitors by nine source regions in its annual and monthly performance releases: the 2025 release gives Western Europe 4.1m (21%), GCC 2.99m (15%), CIS and Eastern Europe 2.89m (15%), South Asia 2.89m (15%), MENA 2.17m (11%), North East and South East Asia 1.85m (9%), Americas 1.40m (7%), Africa 897,000 (5%) and Australasia 401,000 (2%) (DET via Gulf News). The 2024 release gave Western Europe 3.74m, a 20% share and 14% growth, and named it the number one source region, with North East and South East Asia +24%, Africa +20% and CIS and Eastern Europe +16% (DET via Gulf News / Salaam Gateway; DET via WAM / Aletihad). The same regional format was used for H1 2024, Q1 2025, January to May 2025 and January to October 2025 (DET via Dubai Protocol, Jan-Jun 2024; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025). No country-by-country table with visitor counts for 2024 or 2025 appears in any of these releases or in the press coverage of them.

The second level is the official rank order without counts. In November 2025 DCTCM's Regional Director stated that India is the largest source market, followed in order by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Russia, with Western Europe at around 21% and 25% of visitors returning within 12 months. This ordering matches the pre-pandemic one in substance: the Jan to Sep 2019 top ten, the last complete DET country table with counts, ran India (more than 1.39m), Saudi Arabia (more than 1.25m), UK (851,000), Oman (778,000), China (729,000), USA (481,000), Russia (433,000), Germany (392,000), Pakistan (378,000) and Philippines (352,000) (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019). Russia has since moved from seventh to fifth, and in Jan to May 2023 it was briefly second, at 554,000 against the UK's 488,000 and Saudi Arabia's 442,000 (Dubai Tourism via India Outbound, Jan-May 2023).

The third level is country counts that DET releases to individual trade markets rather than in its headline reports. These surface in trade and foreign-language press and are official in origin. Dubai received 1,169,000 visitors from the UK in 2023 and 1,327,000 in 2024 (+14%), 711,000 in H1 2025 (+13%) and 1.04m in Jan to Sep 2025 (+13%), which DET described as more than 36% of the Western Europe region's 2.86m and 7.5% of the 13.95m total, or one in every 13 tourists (DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole; DET via Breaking Travel News). China recorded 824,000 in 2024 (+31%) (DET via Xinhua via AGBI). Russia recorded 1.4m in 2025 (+9%, roughly double 2019), stated by DET at an Intourist workshop in January 2026 (DET via ATOR Telegram). India's last full-year figure is 2.46m for 2023 (+34%), with 687,000 in Q1 2024 (+12%) (DET via IANS / PTI; Bader Ali Habib, DET, via BW Hotelier, Jan-Mar 2024). Pakistan's last figure is 254,000 for Jan to Oct 2023 (DET via ProPakistani). For Saudi Arabia, the only 2024 figure is a Saudi daily's report of 1.9 million Saudi visitors to the UAE as a whole in 2024, 58% of GCC visitors, attributed to the federal minister; it is a UAE-wide figure, not a Dubai count, and no Dubai figure for Saudi Arabia has been published since 2023 (Sabq).

Country	2019 full year	2020	Jan to Sep 2019 (growth)	Latest published Dubai count	Period	Source
India	1,970,000	865,000	>1,390,000	2,460,000 (+34%); 687,000 in Q1 2024 (+12%)	2023; Q1 2024	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via IANS / PTI; Bader Ali Habib, DET, via BW HotelierOfficial
Saudi Arabia	1,565,000	400,000	>1,250,000 (+2%)	442,000 Jan to May 2023 (-24% vs 2019); 1.9m to the UAE as a whole in 2024 (minister, via Saudi press; not a Dubai count)	Jan to May 2023; 2024 (UAE-wide)	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; Dubai Tourism via India OutboundOfficial; (Sabq (Saudi daily) citing DET) Official via press
United Kingdom	1,200,000	392,000	851,000	1,327,000 (+14%); 1,040,000 Jan to Sep 2025 (+13%)	2024; Jan to Sep 2025	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole; DET via Emarat Al Youm via Gulf NewsOfficial
Oman	1,030,000	240,000	778,000 (+28%)	Not established in reviewed sources (fourth by rank; second within GCC)	2025	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; Shahab Shayan, Regional Director DCTCM, via Gulf News; DET via Al BayanOfficial
China	989,000	182,000	729,000 (+14%)	824,000 (+31%)	2024	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via Xinhua via AGBIOfficial
Russia	728,000	296,000	433,000	1,400,000 (+9%)	2025	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregatorOfficial via trade channel
USA	667,000	191,000	481,000 (+1%)	Not established in reviewed sources (Americas region 1.40m in 2025)	2025	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via Gulf NewsOfficial
Germany	560,000	165,000	392,000	Not established in reviewed sources		DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf NewsOfficial
Pakistan	501,000	212,000	378,000	254,000 Jan to Oct 2023	2023	DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News; DET via ProPakistaniOfficial
Kuwait	327,000	84,000	not in top ten	Not established in reviewed sources		DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
Philippines	not in table	not in table	352,000 (+29%)	Not established in reviewed sources		Dubai Tourism via Gulf NewsOfficial

Three cautions on this table. The 2019 full-year column is DET data in a secondary compilation by Tourism Analytics, graded Official via secondary compilation; the page labels the 1,565,000 figure as South Africa in its 2019 table and Saudi Arabia in its 2020 comparison table, so the 2019 Saudi figure needs confirmation against DET's own 2019 release. The Jan to Sep 2019 column is DET's own release (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019). The periods differ, so the two 2019 columns are not comparable with each other, and the latest counts span 2023 to 2025 and are not a ranking for any one year. Readers may also find widely indexed blog tables listing Dubai visitor counts by country for 2023, 2024 and 2025. One is the blog author's own reconstruction from growth percentages, conflicts with DET's India figure and is not used in this edition; another gives 2024 "projected" figures that sum to around 19.5m against a stated 18.2m total and lists India at both 2.45m and 2.1m on the same page. These are not DET data and are not used in this chapter beyond this warning.

Western Europe was Dubai's largest source region in 2025 with 4.1 million visitors, and three regions tied at 15%

International overnight visitors by source region, millions, Dubai, full year 2025 (total 19.59m)

Source: DET via Gulf News, Dubai tourism hits record as 19.59m international visitors arrive in 2025, 9 Feb 2026

View accessible chart data

Western Europe was Dubai's largest source region in 2025 with 4.1 million visitors, and three regions tied at 15% (m)
Measure	Visitors (m)
Western Europe	4.1
GCC	2.99
CIS and Eastern Europe	2.89
South Asia	2.89
MENA	2.17
NE and SE Asia	1.85
Americas	1.4
Africa	0.897
Australasia	0.401

Abu Dhabi reports differently: DCT Abu Dhabi counts hotel guests, not overnight visitors, and it does publish country counts. In 2025 India supplied 436,124 hotel guests (+22%), followed by Russia 257,200, the UK 250,906, China 248,494 (with Chinese stays +13%) and Saudi Arabia 200,652; the release also gives India a 13% share, but that share does not use the 5.9m all-guest denominator and its intended base is unclear, so it is not used here (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN). The emirate's 5.9m hotel guests in 2025 (+2.2%) came with 338,000 holiday home and glamping guests, international guests +10%, 81% occupancy and an average stay of 2.9 nights (+3%) (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office). DCT also publishes partial length of stay by market: Russia 4.3 nights, UK 4.2, Germany 4.1 and Italy 3.4 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN, 2025). In 2024 India was 12% of international hotel guests and grew 43%; in H1 2024 the emirate hosted more than 1.67 lakh (167,000) Indian guests, +37% (DCT Abu Dhabi via Travel Trends Today; Abdulla Mohammad, DCT Abu Dhabi, via TravTalk India). The fuller Jan to Aug 2023 table ran domestic 713,000 (22%), India 349,000, UK 124,000, Egypt 118,000, Philippines 115,000, China 111,000 (+458%), Russia 103,000 (+188%), Saudi Arabia 98,000, USA 76,000, Pakistan 72,000 and Jordan 61,000, on 3.246m guests with a 2.6-night stay (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023).

India sent 436,124 hotel guests to Abu Dhabi in 2025, 1.7 times the next market

Hotel guests by source country, Abu Dhabi, full year 2025 (total 5.9m guests)

Source: DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office, 6 Apr 2026

View accessible chart data

India sent 436,124 hotel guests to Abu Dhabi in 2025, 1.7 times the next market ()
Measure	Hotel guests
India	436124
Russia	257200
UK	250906
China	248494
Saudi Arabia	200652

Sharjah's SCTDA also counts hotel guests by country. In 2024 Russia was first with more than 270,000 guests (+18%), India second with more than 170,000 (+6%), Europe as a block more than 100,000 (+16%) and China more than 60,000 (+828%); Oman was 6% of guests, Saudi Arabia 5%, Egypt 4%, Syria 3% and Iraq 3% (SCTDA, 2024). For Jan to Aug 2024 the shares were Russia 21%, UAE domestic 11%, India 10% and Oman 6% on 1.057m guests at 66% occupancy (SCTDA, Jan-Aug 2024). Ras Al Khaimah publishes growth rates but not counts: in 2025 its 1.35m overnight visitors (+6%) grew by market as follows: domestic +7%, India +14%, China +19%, UK +10%, Russia +20%, Romania +41%, Poland +22%, Uzbekistan +19%, Belarus +26% (RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends Today). At the national level the UAE hosted around 30.8m hotel guests in 2024 (+9.5%) in 1,251 hotels with 216,966 rooms, with no country split (UAE Minister of Economy via ANBA).

What this meansA Dubai hotel cannot benchmark its own nationality mix against an official Dubai country table for 2024 or 2025, because none was found in the sources reviewed. The workable substitutes are the DET market releases quoted above for the UK, China, Russia and India (DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole; DET via Xinhua via AGBI; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregator; DET via IANS / PTI) , the Abu Dhabi hotel-guest table for relative size and length of stay (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN) , and the regional shares for trend (DET via Gulf News) .

ONS READING Taking the three emirates that publish rankings together, the five countries that recur are India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Russia and Oman, with China fifth or sixth depending on the emirate. The practical consequence for a marketer is that the published official counts cover the UK, China and Russia well, India up to 2023, and Saudi Arabia and Oman not at all beyond their 2019 baselines. Any budget split that claims precise Saudi or Omani volumes for Dubai is using unofficial figures and should say so.

2. The 2026 shift: short-haul carries the recovery

The regional conflict that began in late February 2026 cut Dubai's international visitors by 44% to 6.97m for January to August 2026 (DET, via Skift, Jan to Aug 2026). August brought 869,000 visitors, the strongest month since the conflict began, and hotel occupancy of 66% against a city average of 36% in March, when some hotels were in single digits (Dubai government statement, via The National, 2026; Dubai Media Office, via The National, 2026). DET's Jan to Aug 2026 release gives the regional shares as Western Europe 20%, South Asia 17%, GCC 16% and CIS and Eastern Europe 14%, with 21.61m room nights sold, around 149,000 rooms open, Emirates' network 97% restored and an AED 2.5bn support package in place (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Aug 2026; Dubai government, via The National).

Set against 2025, the shares moved as follows: Western Europe 21% to 20%, South Asia 15% to 17%, GCC 15% to 16%, CIS and Eastern Europe 15% to 14% (DET via Gulf News; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Aug 2026). DCTCM's Senior Vice President for International Operations described the mix as "has not changed" versus 2024 and 2025 within roughly plus or minus 1 percent, and said Dubai is active in more than 80 source markets. The two-point rise for South Asia sits just outside that band, so the official characterisation and the published shares are shown together here rather than reconciled. The direction is the same in both: the two short-haul regions, South Asia and the GCC, moved ahead of CIS and Eastern Europe for the first time in the published series, having trailed it in Q1 2025 (14% and 15% against 17%) (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025).

South Asia rose two points and the GCC one point in January to August 2026 while Western Europe and CIS each lost a point

Share of Dubai international overnight visitors by region, %, full year 2025 versus January to August 2026 (only the four regions published for 2026 are shown)

Source: DET via Gulf News, 9 Feb 2026 and 14 Sep 2026

View accessible chart data

South Asia rose two points and the GCC one point in January to August 2026 while Western Europe and CIS each lost a point (%)
Measure	2025	Jan to Aug 2026
Western Europe	21	20
South Asia	15	17
GCC	15	16
CIS and Eastern Europe	15	14

The operator evidence explains the mechanism. IHCL, which cut rates by up to 40% at the peak of the crisis, calls India its most reliable source market and is targeting India, China and Russia, markets five to six flight hours away, while describing long-haul recovery as "wishful thinking" while jet fuel costs are high. Cavendish Maxwell found that luxury and upper-upscale hotels had the steepest occupancy declines and that midscale held up better on domestic, regional and corporate demand. Majestic Hotels in Dubai expects Q4 2026 rates 15 to 20% below last year and notes that long stays are 25 to 30% of its business. Ras Al Khaimah, which leans on drive-in demand, recorded about 670,000 arrivals in H1 2026 against 654,000 a year earlier, with domestic arrivals up 47% and a Q2 domestic campaign that RAKTDA credits with 224,000 room nights, AED 104.4m of hotel revenue and 127,817 additional visitors; guest nights, occupancy and revenue nonetheless fell, as chapter 3 sets out.

Less evidence is available for long-haul markets because fewer of them reported data. In the UK, Easter 2026 brought a "sharp slowdown" in Middle East bookings, British Airways cancelled Dubai flights to 31 May 2026 and operators reported demand shifting to Portugal (+42%), the Balearics (+40%), the Canaries (+16%) and the Caribbean (around +20%) in the two weeks to 13 March (PA via Yahoo Travel). In Russia, the National Rating Agency projects around 1 million trips to the UAE in 2026 after 1.7 million in 2025; weekly Russia-UAE flights were around 100 in mid-July 2026 and were expected, as announced at the time, to reach around 300 by late October across 14 Russian cities, 5 UAE airports and 10 airlines (a schedule announcement, not a verified operated count); Moscow lifted its Gulf travel advisory in June 2026; Fun&Sun's daily UAE sales were back at 2025 levels; DXB's Q2 2026 passenger traffic was down 31% (AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR, 2025). The UAE total outbound forecast of 5.3m visits and USD 23.93bn for 2025 and the Visa and Skyscanner resident data in Section 4 show the domestic alternative that hotels turned to (VisitBritain, 2024).

What this meansFor the 2026 to 2027 winter, the markets with the most published volume and the shortest flight times are India, the GCC and Russia (DET via Gulf News; AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; Skift, quoting Saurabh Tiwari, VP Middle East, IHCL) . Long-haul Europe is recovering through airline capacity and operator programmes rather than consumer demand signals, and the only 2026 UK indicator in the sources reviewed is negative (PA via Yahoo Travel) . Which of these markets a property should prioritise depends on its own guest history, not on the city-wide shares. The market profiles that follow are ordered by DCTCM's published Dubai rank as stated in November 2025 (Shahab Shayan, Regional Director DCTCM, via Gulf News) .

3. Market profiles

3.1 India

India has been Dubai's largest source market since 2015, when it first led with 1.6m visitors (+26%) out of 14.2m (historical) (Dubai Tourism via Salaam Gateway). The series in the table below runs to 2.46m in 2023, a 34% rise and the last full-year count DET has released, with 687,000 Indians in Q1 2024, 12% more than in Q1 2023 (DET via IANS / PTI; Bader Ali Habib, DET, via BW Hotelier, Jan-Mar 2024). Intermediate releases show the pace of the post-pandemic rebuild: 1.64m in Jan to Nov 2022 (+106%) and 1.038m in Jan to May 2023, about 46.8% above the 707,000 of the same months of 2022 and about 20.1% above the 864,000 of Jan to May 2019 (the source prints 17% for the latter, which the counts do not reproduce) (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Nov 2022; Dubai Tourism via India Outbound, Jan-May 2023). For 2024 and 2025 DET has reported only the South Asia region: 3.14m in 2024 and 2.89m in 2025, rising to a 17% share in Jan to Aug 2026 (DET statement via India Outbound; DET via Gulf News).

The other emirates give fuller recent counts. Abu Dhabi hosted 349,000 Indian hotel guests in Jan to Aug 2023, more than 167,000 in H1 2024 (+37%) and 436,124 in 2025 (+22%), its largest market (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023; Abdulla Mohammad, DCT Abu Dhabi, via TravTalk India). Sharjah hosted more than 172,000 Indian guests in 2024 and around 130,000 in Jan to Jul 2025 against around 94,000 a year earlier (+38%) (SCTDA). At the airport, India was DXB's largest country market with 8.8m passengers in Jan to Sep 2025, a two-way figure that includes transit origins (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025).

Period	Indian visitors or guests	Change	Geography and measure	Source
2015	1,600,000	+26%	Dubai overnight visitors	Dubai Tourism via Salaam GatewayOfficial
2019	1,970,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET via IANS / PTI; DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2020	865,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2022	1,840,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET via IANS / PTIOfficial
2023	2,460,000	+34%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via IANS / PTIOfficial
Q1 2024	687,000	+12%	Dubai overnight visitors	Bader Ali Habib, DET, via BW HotelierOfficial
2024	Not established in reviewed sources (South Asia 3,140,000)		Dubai, region only	DET statement via India OutboundOfficial
2025	Not established in reviewed sources (South Asia 2,890,000, 15%)		Dubai, region only	DET via Gulf NewsOfficial
2024	12% of international guests	+43%	Abu Dhabi hotel guests	DCT Abu Dhabi via Travel Trends TodayOfficial
2025	436,124	+22%	Abu Dhabi hotel guests	DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDNOfficial
2024	>172,000	+6%	Sharjah hotel guests	SCTDAOfficial
Jan to Jul 2025	~130,000	+38%	Sharjah hotel guests	SCTDAOfficial
2025	count not published	+14%	RAK overnight visitors	RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends TodayOfficial

Indian visitors to Dubai reached 2.46 million in 2023 against 1.97 million in 2019; no 2024 or 2025 count has been published

Indian overnight visitors to Dubai, millions, by calendar year; 2021, 2024 and 2025 shown as gaps because DET has published no India-only figure for those years

Source: DET via Salaam Gateway (2015), Tourism Analytics (2019, 2020), IANS/PTI (2022, 2023)

View accessible chart data

Indian visitors to Dubai reached 2.46 million in 2023 against 1.97 million in 2019; no 2024 or 2025 count has been published (m)
Measure	Indian visitors (m)
2015	1.6
2019	1.97
2020	0.865
2021	Not published
2022	1.84
2023	2.46
2024	Not published
2025	Not published

Share of India's outbound travel. The Government of India's departure statistics make the UAE the largest single destination for Indian nationals. In 2025 departures were 3,27,05,326 (32.71m), up 5.89% on a revised 2024 figure of 3,08,85,048, and the UAE share was 26.3%, with Saudi Arabia 10.3%, Thailand 6.8%, the USA 6.1% and Singapore 4.7% (Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Annual Tourism Snapshot 2025). The India Tourism Data Compendium 2025 gives the annual series as 26.92m departures in 2019, 27.88m in 2023 and 30.89m in 2024, with the UAE ranked first among destinations in 2024 ahead of Saudi Arabia and the top ten destinations taking around 71.16% of departures; this revised 2024 total replaces an earlier provisional 2024 release, whose destination percentages are not carried forward. Departures are outbound trips, not unique travellers. These are departures of all kinds, including workers and family visits, not leisure arrivals, so the 26.3% share is not a tourism market share. On the booking side, MakeMyTrip reports that the UAE was its most booked international destination in 2024 and was overtaken by Thailand in 2025, with Vietnam and Cambodia close behind and Singapore and Indonesia completing the top five.

Purpose of trip. MakeMyTrip's analysis of Indian outbound travel for June 2023 to May 2024 found 55% of international trips were leisure and 33% visiting friends and relatives; Dubai and Singapore were the top shopping and luxury destinations, 23% of travellers preferred shopping and luxury, and Abu Dhabi was a top-five nightlife destination (MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today, 2023). Its 2025 year-end data put leisure at 75.3% of bookings (77.1% in 2024), a bookings measure rather than a trips measure, so the two figures are not directly comparable. DET's India head describes Tier II and III cities as well penetrated and names destination weddings and MICE from those cities as growth segments, and notes that solo travel from India is "booming" (Bader Ali Habib, DET, via India Outbound, 2025; DET via BW Hotelier, 2024). Travel insurance is most commonly bought for the UAE, Thailand, Europe and the USA (MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today, 2023).

Length of stay. Not established in reviewed sources for Indians in Dubai; DET publishes only the all-market average of 3.7 nights for 2025, and Abu Dhabi's partial ALOS table omits India (DET via Gulf News; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN).

Spend and hotel class. Close to 50% of Indian international hotel bookings on MakeMyTrip fall above INR 7,000 per night; around 20% of family travellers searched for properties above INR 10,000 a night in 2023; and in 2025 the INR 5,000 to 7,500 band grew while INR 2,500 to 5,000 dipped. Homestay and villa searches rose 42%, with Bali, Dubai and Singapore highest, and alternative accommodation bookings rose 24% in 2023 (MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today; MakeMyTrip India Travel Trends Report). The star-rating mix of Indian guests in UAE hotels and their spend per trip are not established in reviewed sources.

Package versus independent and booking channel. MakeMyTrip's holiday packages were "largely flat" in the quarter to June 2025 while international hotel revenue rose 45% and international air revenue 27%; international business was around 27% of revenue, 42% of air ticketing revenue and 25.2% of hotels and packages revenue, and the company added 2,000+ directly contracted international hotels in 50 cities. Its FY25 gross bookings were USD 9,803.1m (+25.9% constant currency) on revenue of USD 978.3m, with 83m lifetime customers (MakeMyTrip results release, 2025; MakeMyTrip Q1 FY26 earnings call, 2025). The Indian travel market reached USD 41.7bn in 2025 with online penetration still climbing and OTAs holding their lead in digital bookings (Phocuswright India Travel Market Essentials 2026). Phocuswright projected mobile at 73% of Indian online travel bookings and nearly 80% of OTA bookings by 2025, with 11% of supplier-direct hotel bookings on mobile, a 2022 projection flagged as old. Google and Kantar's 2025 survey found 77% of Indian travellers research accommodation online, 24% book accommodation through OTAs and travellers pass through 7 touchpoints before booking. The share of Indian visitors to the UAE travelling on packages is not established in reviewed sources.

Lead time. Close to 50% of international flights and 56% of international hotel rooms are booked less than 14 days ahead, and the UAE is among the three destinations with the most last-minute flight bookings, alongside Oman and Nepal (MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today, 2023). The earlier 2023 report put around half of international flights at two or more weeks ahead, around one third at more than a month, and 33% of international hotels at 30+ days (MakeMyTrip India Travel Trends Report). Lead time is therefore short and, for the UAE specifically, shorter than for most destinations.

Seasonality. International travel search volumes from India "remain relatively steady across all seasons", with December the most active month and Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi leading searches (MakeMyTrip via Outlook Business, 2023). In Dubai's regional data, South Asia's share was 17% in H1 2024 and 14% in Q1 2025, consistent with Indian summer travel (DET via Dubai Protocol, Jan-Jun 2024; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025). DET targets 16 to 17 Indian long weekends a year and runs the "Kids Go Free" summer campaign for under-12s (DET via BW Hotelier, 2024). The number of Indians travelling abroad twice or more a year rose 32% (MakeMyTrip via Outlook Business, 2023).

Payment and language. Not established in reviewed sources for payment or language preferences of Indian visitors in the UAE; UPI acceptance through NPCI International partnerships was not verified this edition.

Visa and air access. The GDRFA five-year multiple-entry tourist visa, reported in India from February 2024, allows stays of up to 90 continuous days with extension subject to a maximum of 180 days in a year; it is not restricted to Indian nationals, and processing times and eligibility are those of the current GDRFA service, not the press-reported promise (DET via IANS). A February 2025 press report described Indians holding valid visas, residence or Green Cards of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore or South Korea becoming eligible for UAE visa on arrival from 13 February 2025, extending the earlier EU, UK and US eligibility; this is historical context, and current eligibility and document conditions should be taken from ICP, GDRFA and the airline (DET statement via India Outbound). DXB carried 8.8m India-market passengers in Jan to Sep 2025, a two-way count (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025).

Social and search platforms. 90% of Indian international travellers say social media influenced their destination choice, with Instagram and YouTube the most influential. 53% say YouTube vlogs are their most influential inspiration source, and 56% prioritise hotel upgrades over flight upgrades (MMGY Global, 2024; FINN Partners via PRmoment, 2025). Google and Kantar found 68% use YouTube for trip ideas, Shorts influence around 40% and 59% trust creators. In the 2026 Simon-Kucher Travel Trends Study as reported by TravelDailyNews, 70% of younger Indian travellers say social media influences their travel decisions, against 65% in the UAE; the report does not define "younger travellers" or give a sample size. DataReportal's India platform reach figures were not fetched for this edition and are a gap.

What the UAE authorities do in India. DET took 200+ agents from Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities on familiarisation trips in April to June 2024, ran roadshows in Hyderabad, Lucknow and Jaipur in June 2024 for around 600 trade from 10 cities, held workshops in Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Surat, and returned to New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in November 2024; 200 of the 555 participants in its ATM 2024 Mega FAM were from India, as stated in 2024 interviews that are historical marketing context rather than current campaign terms (DET via Travel Trends Today; DET via BW Hotelier). DCT Abu Dhabi's Experience Abu Dhabi roadshow visited Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Pune in April 2025 with 30+ Abu Dhabi stakeholders and 600+ Indian trade, then New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in September 2025 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Travel Trends Today). SCTDA ran roadshows in Mumbai and New Delhi in September 2025 with around 90 trade each, signed partnerships with Royal Tours, Riya Holidays, Thrillophilia and TravClan, and ran consumer campaigns with Amazon and Inshorts.

ONS READING: HOW TO TARGET INDIA India fits the widest range of Dubai products of any market because it spans visiting friends and relatives (33% of trips) and shopping-led leisure (55%), and because half of its international hotel bookings already sit above INR 7,000 a night. The decisive operational fact is lead time: with 56% of hotel rooms booked inside 14 days, always-on search and OTA visibility in the two weeks before Indian long weekends, Diwali and the December peak matter more than early-bird campaigns. The content channel is video: YouTube is the top inspiration source for 53% and used for ideas by 68% in the surveys cited, so a hotel targeting India would put room, pool and family-facility walk-throughs on YouTube and Instagram Reels rather than static imagery. The authorities are targeting growth in Tier II and III cities. This supports city-level targeting on Google and Meta rather than national campaigns. How much budget India deserves at a given property is a question for that property's own guest and booking data.

3.2 Saudi Arabia and the GCC (Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain)

The GCC is reported by Dubai as a region, so Saudi Arabia must be read through it. GCC visitors were 2.99m (15%) in 2025, 2.5m (16%) in Jan to Oct 2025, 1.51m (15%) in H1 2025 and 1.27m (14%) in H1 2024; in Jan to Aug 2026 the share rose to 16% (DET via Gulf News; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Oct 2025). DET's combined GCC and MENA figure for Jan to Aug 2025 was 27.8%, around 3.5m, and over 2020 to mid-2024 the GCC supplied 9.15m of Dubai's 55.9m visitors, 16.3% (DET via Nasser Saidi Weekly Insights, Jan-Aug 2025; DET via Al Bayan, 2020 to 2024). Saudi Arabia is consistently the largest GCC market: in January 2024 the GCC sent 311,000 visitors (+18%) with Saudi Arabia above a 50% share and Oman second; in Jan to Feb 2024 GCC visitors were 549,000, around 15% of 3.67m, most of them Saudi (DET via Al Bayan, Jan 2024; DET performance report via Sabq, Jan-Feb 2024); DET's cumulative statement says Saudi Arabia is "more than half" of GCC visitors; and in H1 2025 Saudis again led the GCC (DET via Al Bayan, 2020 to 2024; DET via Sabq, Jan-Jun 2025). In Jan to Aug 2017 Saudi visitors were around 1.09m, around 54% of the GCC, when the GCC was around 21% of Dubai's 10.4m (old) (DTCM via Al Madina, Jan-Aug 2017).

Country counts are sparse and are set out in the table below. The last Dubai count for Saudi Arabia with a growth rate is Jan to May 2023, when 442,000 arrivals were 5% below 2022 and 24% below the 2019 peak of 584,000 for the same months (Dubai Tourism via India Outbound, Jan-May 2023); January 2023 alone was 98,000 (Skift, Jan 2023). The Saudi ambassador put Saudi visitors to the whole UAE at about 1 million for a year the cited article does not name (a companion report of the same remarks indicates 2015) (Saudi Embassy via Gulf News, 2017). For 2024 the only figure is the Saudi press report of 1.9 million Saudi visitors to the UAE as a whole, attributed to the federal minister, which is not a Dubai count (Sabq). No Kuwait, Qatar or Bahrain count for Dubai has been published since the 2019 baseline (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics). Among Dubai's ranked markets, Saudi Arabia is third and Oman fourth (Shahab Shayan, Regional Director DCTCM, via Gulf News, 2025).

Period	Figure	Measure and geography	Source
2019	Saudi 1,565,000; Oman 1,030,000; Kuwait 327,000	Dubai overnight visitors by country	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial (old)
Jan to May 2023	Saudi 442,000 (-5% vs 2022; -24% vs 2019's 584,000)	Dubai overnight visitors	Dubai Tourism via India OutboundOfficial
Jan 2024	GCC 311,000 (+18%); Saudi share above 50%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Al BayanOfficial via press
2024	Saudi 1.9 million (58% of GCC visitors)	UAE as a whole, Saudi visitors, per federal minister via Saudi press; not a Dubai count	Sabq (Saudi daily) citing DETOfficial via press
H1 2024	GCC 1,270,000 (14%)	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Dubai ProtocolOfficial
2025	GCC 2,990,000 (15%)	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Gulf NewsOfficial
Jan to Aug 2026	GCC 16%	Dubai share of visitors	DET via Gulf NewsOfficial
2025	Saudi 200,652	Abu Dhabi hotel guests	DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDNOfficial
2024	Oman 6%; Saudi 5% of guests	Sharjah hotel guests	SCTDAOfficial
Summer 2025	Dubai 13% of Saudi outbound travellers (Manama 20%, Cairo 9%, Istanbul 8%, London 4%)	Saudi Visa cardholders, 15 Jun to 15 Aug 2025	Visa Travel Pulse KSA Summer Holidays EditionPlatform
2025	17.4m international trips	Saudi outbound, all destinations	WTM Spotlight Riyadh Trends Report 2026Industry

Share of Saudi outbound travel. Saudi travellers made 17.4 million international trips in 2025, placing the kingdom in the world's top 25 outbound markets (WTM Spotlight Riyadh Trends Report 2026). Visa's card data for the 15 June to 15 August 2025 school holiday shows Dubai receiving 13% of Saudi outbound travellers, second to Manama (20%) and ahead of Cairo (9%), Istanbul (8%) and London (4%). Almosafer, the kingdom's largest travel platform, places Dubai first among its regional destinations ahead of Doha, Cairo and Manama, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi leading its international activity bookings; its Q1 2025 bookings split MENA 42%, domestic 42% and long-haul 16%, with MENA growing 14%. GASTAT's outbound tourism tables, which would give trips, nights and spend by destination, were not surfaced; DataSaudi shows only ratios (outbound expenditure 14.8% of goods imports, gross travel propensity 3.1).

Purpose of trip. Visa recorded leisure as 48% of Saudi Visa cardholders' cross-border spend during the 15 June to 15 August 2025 summer holidays, a spend measure across all categories and destinations. No official split of Saudi outbound purpose by destination was found; the medical and shopping shares for the UAE are not established in reviewed sources. Saudi inbound purpose data exist (religious 41%, entertainment 25%, VFR 20%, business 7%) but describe visitors to Saudi Arabia, not Saudis abroad (Saudi Ministry of Tourism via Argaam, 2024).

Length of stay. Dubai publishes no ALOS by nationality. The nearest figures are Visa's: 25% of Saudi Visa-cardholder summer travellers took multiple trips, averaging 11 days per trip across the summer; and Skyscanner's UAE-resident data, where 96% of 2024 bookings to GCC cities were for under a week with a "2 to 4 days sweet spot", which describes the reverse direction.

Spend. Visa's summer 2025 figures describe Saudi Visa cardholders across all outbound destinations and all spend categories, not Dubai or hotels specifically: accommodation USD 540 per card, entertainment USD 135 per card, ticketing spend +69% versus the rest of the year, families of two to five spending USD 2,060 on tickets, amusement park spend +135% and toy merchants +140%. Coverage of ATM 2025 quoting DCTCM's CEO reported that visitors from Russia and the Gulf countries spend the most in Dubai, with tourists from select European nations close behind, without amounts.

Hotel class and accommodation. Almosafer reported that more than 75% of its Q1 2025 room nights were booked at four and five star properties, and that international bookings at three-star and lower properties grew 12%; these are platform observations from its own customer base. Wego's summer 2025 bookings were 40.92% five star and 32.22% four star; its Europe searches ran around 45% four star and 18.72% five star, with hotels 80.5%, apartments 7.06% and aparthotels 3.70% of property types; in July to August 2025 five star was 37.3% of international hotel bookings and hotels were 37.3% of international bookings ahead of aparthotels, resorts and apartments. The Dubai-specific class mix is not established in reviewed sources, but every published cut shows the four and five star tiers taking the majority.

Travel party. The sources conflict because they measure different things. Wego's summer bookings were 78.82% solo, 11.43% families and 5.83% couples, and its Europe searches 68.3% solo, 16.02% couples and 7.93% families; Almosafer's flight segments were 53% solo and 16% families; Visa counts families at 20% of Saudi Visa cardholders' summer outbound trips against 13% for the rest of the year. Bookings counted per transaction overstate solo travel relative to trips counted per card, and all four are shown here.

Booking channel, device and payment. Almosafer's app takes 70% of transactions and retail 7%, of which 15% comes through WhatsApp; Android bookings grew 32%; Apple Pay is 36% of bookings and buy-now-pay-later 25% of transactions, up from 14% in 2024 (Almosafer via Gulf Business, Q1 2025). Package versus independent share for Saudis to the UAE is not established in reviewed sources. Lead time is not established in reviewed sources from Almosafer, Wego or Visa; the nearest proxy is Skyscanner's UAE-resident data, where GCC searches jumped 48% in the week of 21 April for Eid travel on 5 to 9 June.

Seasonality. As described in 2023 trade reporting, the Saudi school year then ran three semesters over 38 weeks with 60 holiday days plus a 68-day summer break, and during the November 2023 nine-day break operators expected more than 500,000 Saudis abroad with Cairo and Dubai the top destinations; this is a dated operator expectation, not a measured outcome, and the current Saudi school calendar should be checked for the intended travel year. Eid Al Fitr 2025 gave the public sector 30 March to 5 April and the private sector three to four days; the average Saudi Eid trip was two days longer than in 2024 and expatriate workers' destinations included Egypt, India, Pakistan, Turkey and the UAE (Wego via Hospitality Net). Visa's summer window runs 15 June to 15 August. Over Eid Al Adha 2025 (5 to 8 June) Dubai processed 629,559 passengers through its air, land and sea ports, 581,527 of them at DXB and 46,863 at the Hatta land port (GDRFA Dubai via Gulf Business). The GCC share of Dubai visitors has held at 14% to 16% across every published period, so Gulf demand is the least seasonal of the major regions (DET via Dubai Protocol, Jan-Jun 2024; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025).

Social and search platforms. DataReportal's January 2025 figures for Saudi Arabia: population 34.3m, internet users 33.9m (99.0%), social identities 34.1m (99.6%); ad reach YouTube 27.2m (79.4%), Snapchat 24.7m (72.1%, +9.1%), Instagram 16.9m (49.3%), Facebook 16.4m (47.7%), X 15.7m (45.7%, -6.9%), LinkedIn 11.0m members (32.1%); the TikTok figure of 34.1m adults is an anomaly at 138% of adults. Snap reports 25m monthly users in Saudi Arabia and 90%+ reach of Saudi 13 to 34 year olds, with 71% of Saudi parents on the app. Saudi users spend around 1h10m a day on TikTok; 60% use social as their primary brand research tool and 19.3% have bought on an influencer recommendation, against 7% in the UAE. Among Saudi youth in 2022, daily use was WhatsApp 98%, Snapchat 84%, YouTube 83%, Twitter 73% and TikTok 60% (old). TikTok-sourced data claims 64% of Saudi users have booked a trip after TikTok inspiration.

Access. On 29 April 2022 NCEMA and ICP announced that Emirati and GCC citizens could again enter the UAE on a national ID card without a passport; this is a 2022 announcement, and current entry conditions should be confirmed against ICP before being stated as the present rule. Air capacity between the UAE and Saudi Arabia was put at around 100 flights a week by travel operators in 2023; DXB handled 5.5m Saudi-market passengers in Jan to Sep 2025, its second country market (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025). Road volumes are not established in reviewed sources since 2018, when Abu Dhabi Police reported a 30% summer rise in vehicles leaving through the land borders, a doubling of officers at Ghuwaifat and around 3,000 vehicles and 11,000 people a day at the Oman border (old); the Hatta crossing to Oman carried almost 3m passengers a year around 2017 (old).

What the UAE authorities do. Dubai Summer Surprises 2025 ran 66 days to 31 August in three phases from 27 June, with Kids Go Free at AYA Universe, Green Planet, Madame Tussauds, Legoland, Motiongate, Neon Galaxy and Crocodile Park, and about 24 hotels offering staycation packages of up to 30% off room rates aimed explicitly at UAE and GCC residents, per the DFRE announcement as reported by Arabian Business. No DET Saudi roadshow release for 2025 or 2026 was found, in contrast to the India programme.

ONS READING: HOW TO TARGET SAUDI ARABIA AND THE GCC The GCC is one of the two regions whose share of Dubai's visitors rose in January to August 2026, GCC citizens have been able to enter on an ID card under a 2022 announcement, and Almosafer's platform data show four and five star properties taking more than three quarters of its room nights, so for an upper-tier Dubai hotel whose own guest data show Gulf demand, it is a natural first market for rebuilding occupancy. The product fit is the family suite and the serviced apartment: families are 20% of Saudi Visa cardholders' summer trips, and the summer campaign the authorities run is built around children's attractions. The channel is mobile and app-led, with Apple Pay and instalments expected at checkout, and the reach platforms by DataReportal's ad-reach measure are YouTube and Snapchat before Instagram. Timing follows the school calendar: Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, the mid-year breaks and the summer, with the dates checked for the year in question. Measurement remains a limitation. With no Dubai count for Saudi Arabia since 2023 and no lead-time data, hotels should track the Saudi share of their own guests in the PMS rather than wait for an official series.

3.3 United Kingdom

The UK is Dubai's second market by DCTCM's ranking and the best documented of the top five. DET's UK releases run from 1,169,000 visitors in 2023 to 1,327,000 in 2024 (+14%) via trade press and about 1.04m in Jan to Sep 2025 (+13%, roughly 115,500 a month or 3,800 a day across the 273 days), which DET put at more than 36% of Western Europe's 2.86m and 7.5% of the 13.95m total, roughly one in 13 tourists (DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole; DET via Emarat Al Youm via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2025). Dividing the 2024 count by Dubai's 18.72m total gives 7.1% for 2024 (ONS calculation from and) (DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole, 2023; DET via WAM / Aletihad). Against a 2019 baseline of 1.2m, UK volume is already above its pre-pandemic level; the recovery path ran through more than 1m Britons in 2022 (+148% on 2021) and 555,000 visitors from the UK and Ireland in Jan to Jun 2023 (+10%), both DET and DCTCM figures as reported by trade press, and 488,000 in Jan to May 2023, 5% below 2019 (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; DET via Aspire Travel Club). In Abu Dhabi the UK was third with 250,906 hotel guests in 2025, up from 124,000 in Jan to Aug 2023 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023).

Period	UK visitors	Change	Geography and measure	Source
2019	1,200,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2020	392,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2022	>1,000,000	+148%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Aspire Travel ClubOfficial via trade press
2023	1,169,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET via NI Travel News / TravelMoleOfficial
2024	1,327,000	+14%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via NI Travel News / TravelMoleOfficial
H1 2025	711,000	+13%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Breaking Travel NewsOfficial
Jan to Sep 2025	1,040,000 (7.5% of total)	+13%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Emarat Al Youm via Gulf NewsOfficial
2025	250,906; ALOS 4.2 nights		Abu Dhabi hotel guests	DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDNOfficial
2025	count not published	+10%	RAK overnight visitors	RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends TodayOfficial
Mar 2026	"sharp slowdown"; BA Dubai flights cancelled to 31 May 2026		UK outbound, Easter 2026	PA via Yahoo TravelIndustry

Share of UK outbound travel. UK residents made 94.6m visits abroad in 2024 and spent GBP 78.7bn; the country-level table that would give UAE visits, nights and spend sits in the ONS dataset "Travel trends estimates: UK residents' visits abroad", which could not be fetched (UK Office for National Statistics). ABTA's survey of 2,001 UK adults found the UAE visited by 6% in the 12 months to mid-2025, down two points, level with Cyprus, Ireland and Croatia, and one of only three long-haul destinations in the list alongside the USA (14%) and Australia (7%); Europe took 84% of destinations and the UAE was 5% of planned visits for the next 12 months (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26, 2025). Travelbag's survey of 1,000 UK travellers placed Dubai in the top ten destinations Britons are actively planning, with shopping and local markets the top activity at 26.7%.

Purpose of trip. Not established in reviewed sources for the UAE split between holiday, VFR and business; ABTA's data are holiday-centric and the ONS country table was not fetched (UK Office for National Statistics, 2024). The reverse flow is documented: UAE residents made 374,000 visits to the UK in 2024, spending GBP 613.2m, with spend split VFR 37%, holiday 34%, business 14% and study or other 15% (VisitBritain).

Length of stay. The only Dubai figure is historical: DTCM reported that UK visitors' average stay rose about 20% to about 4.5 days in Q1 2012, from under 4 days in Q1 2011, with UK guest nights +14%; the year is taken from a parallel report of the same DTCM data, and the figure is kept only as historical context (2012). Abu Dhabi's 4.2 nights for UK guests in 2025 is the current proxy and is above the emirate's 2.9-night average (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office).

Spend, hotel class and accommodation. Not established in reviewed sources for UK guests in Dubai on either; the ONS dataset holds UK spend in the UAE (UK Office for National Statistics, 2024). The nearest class signal is market-wide: a 2024 trends report put five-star hotels at 52.2% of Dubai bookings and four-star at 22.7%, but its platform scope is unclear and it is graded as an estimate.

Package versus independent. 54% of UK adults booked a package holiday in the 12 months to July or August 2025, 61% of those who booked abroad did so, and 34% used a travel professional; UK adults took 3.8 holidays each, 1.7 of them abroad, with 87% taking at least one holiday and 59% an overseas holiday. The Dubai-specific package share is not established in reviewed sources. In 2026 the operator channel also set the pace of decline: Thomas Cook, Kuoni and BA data drove the Easter switch away from Dubai (PA via Yahoo Travel).

Lead time. Not established in reviewed sources for UK trips to the UAE. ABTA found 46% of planners had booked or started booking their next holiday. TikTok's UK research found 59% of users who book after discovering a destination on the platform do so within one week.

Seasonality. Western Europe's share of Dubai visitors peaks at 22% in Q1 and Jan to May and runs at 20% to 21% for the full year, and a Dubai DMC reports that European inbound "never stopped even during the summer" (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025; DET via Economy Middle East, Jan-May 2025). ForwardKeys named India and the UK as the largest source markets for Q4 2025 forward bookings. Emirates added six weekly Heathrow flights from 26 October 2025, the start of the winter season (Emirates via Gulf News, late 2025).

Payment and language. Not established in reviewed sources; no UK-specific payment or language preference for UAE trips was found.

Visa and air access. In its late-2025 schedule, Emirates operated 133+ weekly UK flights: six daily A380s to Heathrow, three daily to Gatwick, two daily to Stansted, three daily to Manchester, two daily to Birmingham, daily to Newcastle and Glasgow and an A350 to Edinburgh; this is historical connectivity context, not current bookable capacity (Emirates via Gulf News, late 2025). British Airways cancelled its Dubai flights to 31 May 2026 after the conflict began (PA via Yahoo Travel). DXB's UK market was 4.6m passengers in Jan to Sep 2025, third after India and Saudi Arabia (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025).

Social and search platforms. The UK had 67.8m internet users and 54.8m social media identities in January 2025, spending 1h 37m a day on social (-11% year on year), with TikTok, Facebook and Instagram ad reach growing and X down 10.7%. 22% of UK adults use social media for holiday inspiration, rising to 42% of 18 to 24s and 41% of 25 to 34s. Platform-level UK ad reach counts were not on the summary page fetched and are a gap.

What the UAE authorities do. Visit Dubai launched the "Find Your Story" campaign with Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi in H1 2025 and DET announced partnerships with Marriott, Hyatt and Premier Inn (DET via Breaking Travel News). An earlier Dubai Tourism Snapchat AR campaign reached 9.2m+ UK and France users in two weeks in June 2020, with time spent 180% above expectations (old) (Dubai Media Inc / DTCM).

ONS READING: HOW TO TARGET THE UNITED KINGDOM The UK is a long-stay, high-season, intermediated market: 4.2 nights in Abu Dhabi against a 2.9 average, a Western Europe share that peaks in the first quarter, and a population where 61% of those who travel abroad buy a package. For a Dubai hotel whose UK guests arrive through operators, that means rate parity and allocation with BA Holidays, Jet2, TUI, easyJet holidays and Emirates Holidays matter more than direct campaigns, and that the booking window follows UK school holidays; a hotel whose own data show direct UK bookings would adjust its channel mix accordingly. Social media is a secondary channel for this audience, except among under-35s, who are twice as likely to use it for holiday inspiration. In 2026 the UK is also the market with the clearest negative signal, so hotels dependent on it should watch BA and Emirates schedule restoration before committing winter budgets.

3.4 Russia and the CIS

Russia is Dubai's fifth market by DCTCM's ranking, Sharjah's first and Abu Dhabi's second, and the market whose totals vary most by source. DET's own Dubai figure, given at an Intourist workshop at Atlantis The Palm on 21 January 2026, is 1.4 million Russian tourists in 2025, up 9% and roughly double 2019 via trade channel (DET via ATOR Telegram). The 2019 baseline was 728,000 and 2020 296,000 (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Colliers for ATM via Arabian Business, 2021); Jan to Sep 2019 was 433,000, seventh place; 2022 was 758,000 (+70%) and Russia was second source market by mid-2023 (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019; Skift); Jan to May 2023 was 554,000, +104% on 2022 and +53% on 2019 (Dubai Tourism via India Outbound, Jan-May 2023); January 2023 alone was 115,000 (Skift, Jan 2023). Dubai's wider CIS and Eastern Europe region was 2.89m (15%) in 2025, grew 16% in 2024, was 1.6m (14%) in Jan to Aug 2024, and peaks in winter: 17% in Q1 2025 and 16% in Jan to May 2025 against 15% for the year (DET via Gulf News; DET via WAM / Aletihad). In Jan to Aug 2026 it fell to 14% (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Aug 2026).

UAE-wide figures for Russian visitors conflict by definition, and the table below records each with its source; Dubai visitors, UAE-wide trips, border crossings and hotel guests are separate series and are not merged. An FSB-based figure of nearly one million reported in August 2024 cannot describe a completed calendar year and its period and definition are not explicit, so it is not used in annual comparisons (Mabrian citing FSB and ATOR). ATOR's head gave "nearly 2 million" Russian tourists to the UAE for 2024, against 1.48m to Egypt; and for 2025 the figures run from 1.7 million tourist trips (National Rating Agency) to around 2.4 million (UAE Embassy in Moscow) and more than 2 million (the Russia-UAE "Let's Travel!" forum). From the Russian side, ATOR's analysis of FSB data gives 638,085 Russian visits to the UAE in Jan to Mar 2025 (+11.5%), out of 5,573,170 trips abroad, with the UAE second among tourist destinations after Thailand; in 2024 Russians made 17.4m tourist trips to the top 25 destinations (+15.4%), Turkey took 38.5%, the UAE more than 10% as the second destination, and the UAE was fourth by all departures. Colliers put the UAE at more than 90% of Russian arrivals to the GCC in 2022 (old).

Figure	Period and scope	Who says so	Source
1,400,000 (+9%)	2025, Russian tourists to Dubai only	DET at Intourist workshop	DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregatorOfficial via trade channel
"nearly 2 million"	2024, Russian tourists to UAE	ATOR (Maya Lomidze) via TASS	Maya Lomidze, ATOR, via TASSIndustry
~2,400,000	2025, Russian visitors to UAE	UAE Embassy Moscow	AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; AGBI; Gulf NewsIndustry / Official mixed
1,700,000	2025, Russian tourist trips to UAE	National Rating Agency	AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; AGBI; Gulf NewsIndustry
>2,000,000	2025, Russian trips to UAE	Russia-UAE "Let's Travel!" forum	Roscongress / Russian Ministry of Economic Development forum reportOfficial via forum
638,085 (+11.5%)	Jan to Mar 2025, Russian visits to UAE	ATOR on FSB data	ATOR analysis of FSB Border Service data via Finance Mail.ruIndustry
~1,000,000 projected	2026, Russian trips to UAE	National Rating Agency	AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATORIndustry

Published counts of Russian visitors range from 1.4 million (Dubai only) to 2.4 million (UAE-wide) for 2024 and 2025

Russian visitors or trips, millions, by source and definition; Dubai-only and UAE-wide figures are different series and are shown together only to display the spread; 2024, 2025 and a 2026 projection as labelled

Source: DET via ATOR Telegram (Jan 2026); TASS (Jul 2025); AGBI (Sep 2026)

View accessible chart data

Published counts of Russian visitors range from 1.4 million (Dubai only) to 2.4 million (UAE-wide) for 2024 and 2025 (m)
Measure	Millions
DET: Dubai only, 2025	1.4
ATOR: UAE, 2024	2.0
NRA: UAE tourist trips, 2025	1.7
UAE Embassy Moscow: UAE, 2025	2.4
NRA projection: UAE, 2026	1.0

The other emirates confirm the scale. In Sharjah Russia has been the largest market since at least 2022, when it supplied 238,185 hotel guests (+39%, a 17% share); it reached more than 270,000 in 2024 (+18%), 21% of guests in Jan to Aug 2024, and grew a further 25% in 2025 according to SCTDA's chairman; a Russian guest count for Jan to Aug 2024 that appears in secondary reporting is inconsistent with the 21% share and is omitted. In Abu Dhabi Russian hotel guests were 103,000 in Jan to Aug 2023 (+188%) and 257,200 in 2025, second only to India (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN); Mabrian projected 49,000 Russian airport arrivals in H1 2024 (+52%) from inbound air traffic, with stays +57% and seat capacity for H2 2024 +31.4%, demand projections rather than official guest counts. RAK's Russian arrivals grew 20% in 2025, with Belarus +26%, Uzbekistan +19%, Poland +22% and Romania +41% (RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends Today).

Length of stay. Russians stay longer than any other published market. Abu Dhabi gives 4.3 nights for Russia in 2025 against 4.2 for the UK and a 2.9-night average (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office); Mabrian estimated 3.4 days in Abu Dhabi in 2024, up from 2.9 in 2023, from its own sample; Colliers measured 8.2 nights in Dubai in Q4 2021, up 74.5% from 4.7, during the period when Russian travel options were narrowest (old). The current Dubai ALOS for Russians is not established in reviewed sources.

Spend. In Mabrian's analysis Russia is the third-largest Abu Dhabi market by average daily spend and the highest outside the GCC; ATM 2025 coverage quoting DCTCM's CEO reported that visitors from Russia and the Gulf spend the most in Dubai. Colliers forecast average spend per Russian traveller of around USD 1,280 by 2026, a 2022-vintage projection. Current spend per trip is not established in the sources reviewed.

Hotel class and accommodation. In Mabrian's Abu Dhabi sample, 42.7% of Russian stays are in five-star and 28.9% in four-star hotels, 6.5 points more five-star than other markets; hotels take 90% of Russian accommodation and resorts nearly one in four stays; these are the vendor's estimates, not a definitive hotel-class survey. The Dubai-specific mix is not established in reviewed sources.

Package versus independent and booking channel. Russian demand to the UAE is read through tour operators: DET briefed Intourist's trade at Atlantis in January 2026, and ATOR and Fun&Sun daily sales are the indicators UAE trade used to track the 2026 recovery. Russia's "Let's Travel!" forum reported more than 70,000 UAE citizens visiting Russia in 2025 and Etihad serving Moscow, St Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan. The package share and the use of Russian OTAs for UAE trips are not established in reviewed sources. Lead time is not established in reviewed sources.

Payment. Mir cards were enabled at Dubai Duty Free and with UAE merchants through a Network International and Mir Payment System agreement announced in October 2021, when Russia was a top-five country for Duty Free shoppers; that announcement is historical and predates subsequent restrictions, and it does not establish current merchant acceptance (TRBusiness). An unsourced 2025 travel guide lists Mir acceptance in Abkhazia, Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and South Ossetia, omits the UAE, and says only that in the UAE "some locations accept UnionPay and cash is widely used"; it illustrates what Russian travellers read, not network availability (FTN News). The current Mir and UnionPay status in the UAE is not established in the sources reviewed; a hotel would confirm accepted methods with its acquirer before making any payment claim to guests.

Seasonality. The CIS and Eastern Europe share peaks in Q1 at 17% (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025). A Dubai DMC expected "December and January will be peak" for winter 2025 with demand from India, the CIS, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Russia, and hoteliers reported rising group bookings from Russia, India and Central Asia (Smart Travels). In 2026 the recovery was led by the operator channel after Moscow lifted its Gulf advisory in June, with weekly flights expected, as announced in mid-2026, to triple by late October (AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR, 2025).

Social and search platforms. DataReportal's January 2025 figures: Russia's population 144m, internet users 133m (92.2%), social identities 106m (73.4%); VK reaches 93.8m (65.0% of population, Mediascope); TikTok ad reach is 56.0m adults (48.8% of adults); Snapchat 8.06m (5.6%); X 630,000 (0.4%); YouTube, Telegram, Instagram and Facebook reach are not reported (DataReportal Digital 2025 Russian Federation, Jan 2025). The one published UAE hotel case in Russian search is Atlantis The Palm's Yandex Ads campaign for winter 2023/24, which the platform reports at 1,039% ROI and 669,000+ reach using video, brand search and retargeting banners; it is a single self-reported campaign result, not a benchmark. Telegram's UAE user count is not published and a 2026 UAE Telegram ad archive sample held no travel advertisers.

Visa and air access. The forum cites the visa-free regime between the two countries as an enabler. Direct flights were running from 14 Russian cities to 5 UAE airports with the number of airlines rising from 4 to 10 and weekly frequencies from around 100 in mid-July 2026 to an announced target of around 300 by late October 2026; a separate report put arrivals on track to exceed 1 million by the end of summer 2026 on 95 weekly flights from 11 cities (AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR, 2025; AGBI; Gulf News, 2025).

What the UAE authorities do. DET's Intourist workshop at Atlantis The Palm (January 2026); "Abu Dhabi Days" in Moscow (August 2026); the "Let's Travel!" forum (June 2026); and Russia-growth messaging from Sharjah, RAK and Abu Dhabi. For the wider CIS, RAK reported Uzbekistan +19% and Belarus +26% in 2025 and the DMC quoted above named Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan as winter demand sources; no other CIS behavioural data were found (RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends Today; Smart Travels).

ONS READING: HOW TO TARGET RUSSIA AND THE CIS Russia is the market with the strongest fit for five-star resorts: the longest published stays, a five-star share of 42.7% in Mabrian's Abu Dhabi sample, resort stays at one in four in the same sample and reported DCTCM comment that Russians are among the highest spenders in Dubai. Demand is concentrated in winter and comes through tour operators, so allotments with Intourist, Fun&Sun and their peers, plus Yandex search and VK for direct visibility, are the practical channels. Two cautions. First, the volume a Dubai hotel plans against is the DET Dubai figure of 1.4m, itself a trade-channel report, not the UAE-wide totals, which are a different series. Second, payment can be a barrier. Until Mir or UnionPay acceptance is confirmed with the acquirer, Russian-language listings should state accepted payment methods explicitly.

3.5 China

Chinese visitors to Dubai reached 824,000 in 2024, up 31%, according to DET via Xinhua, still below the 2019 level of 989,000 after a trough of 177,000 in 2022. Trip.com's CEO put Chinese visitors to Dubai at more than 450,000 for Jan to Sep 2024, which sits awkwardly against DET's full-year 824,000 and implies either a very heavy fourth quarter or a different definition; both are recorded. ForwardKeys put UAE-wide arrivals from China up 9% year on year and 14% above pre-pandemic at the start of 2025, and its Q4 2025 forward bookings had China up 34% and "back in the top ten" for Dubai. Dubai's North East and South East Asia region grew 24% in 2024, "driven by strong recovery from China", and stood at 1.85m (9%) in 2025 (DET via WAM / Aletihad; DET via Gulf News). In Abu Dhabi, China was the fourth market with 248,494 hotel guests in 2025, up from 111,000 guests (+458%) in Jan to Aug 2023 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT via China Daily). The 2025 Dubai count for China is not established in reviewed sources.

Period	Chinese visitors or guests	Change	Geography and measure	Source
2019	989,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2020	182,000		Dubai overnight visitors	DET data compiled by Tourism AnalyticsOfficial
2022	177,000	+131%	Dubai overnight visitors	Network International via Fintech Times; Dragon Trail white paper via SkiftOfficial via press
Jan to Sep 2024	>450,000		Dubai (Trip.com statement; conflicts with full year)	Jane Sun, CEO Trip.com, via The NationalPlatform
2024	824,000	+31%	Dubai overnight visitors	DET via Xinhua via AGBIOfficial via press
2025	Not established in reviewed sources (NE and SE Asia region 1,850,000, 9%)		Dubai, region only	DET via Gulf NewsOfficial
Q4 2025	forward bookings	+34%	Dubai, ForwardKeys	ForwardKeys via Gulf News (citing Emarat Al Youm)Industry
2025	248,494; stays +13%		Abu Dhabi hotel guests	DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT via China DailyOfficial
2024	>60,000	+828%	Sharjah hotel guests	SCTDAOfficial
2025	count not published	+19%	RAK overnight visitors	RAKTDA via Gulf Today / Travel Trends TodayOfficial

Share of China's outbound travel. Chinese outbound travel was expected to exceed 130m passengers in 2025 against a 2019 peak of 155m (Jane Sun, CEO Trip.com, via The National, 2024). The UAE ranked tenth among Chinese outbound destinations in 2025, after Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Indonesia and Vietnam (Dida report via Khaleej Times). The UAE's share of Chinese departures is not established in reviewed sources.

Purpose, length of stay, spend and hotel class. Not established in reviewed sources for Chinese visitors in Dubai on any of these; Abu Dhabi reports only that Chinese stays grew 13% in 2025 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN). Dragon Trail finds that travellers aged 50+ are about one fifth of the Chinese outbound market, and Chinese guest bookings at one Dubai holiday-home operator rose 28% over May Day 2025, a signal that the segment extends beyond hotels.

Package versus independent and booking channel. More than half of Chinese planning outbound trips travel independently, 27% take group tours, 71% of 18 to 24s travel independently and groups of 20 or fewer are the norm (Dragon Trail, 2025). In Dragon Trail's March 2025 survey of 1,022 mainland Chinese travellers (681 for the inspiration questions), Ctrip (Trip.com) is the leading destination information source at 69% and Xiaohongshu second at 66%; for booking, Ctrip takes 71% of package, 66% of air-plus-hotel and 55% of other bookings, with Fliggy at 35%, 31% and 28% and Mafengwo at 31%, 27% and 25%; these are multi-select survey percentages, not exclusive market shares. Xiaohongshu is the top information source for under-35s. 86% of Chinese travellers follow travel influencers, 53% say influencers affected their decisions and more than 60% used AI for travel planning in 2025 (Dragon Trail). Lead time is not established in reviewed sources.

Payment. Alipay+ acceptance runs on Network International point-of-sale for 50,000+ UAE merchants, covering Alipay and other wallets including GCash, Kakao Pay and TrueMoney. WeChat Pay was enabled on 5,000+ Network International terminals across the UAE in 2023, including 400+ Dubai mall outlets, out of 200,000+ terminals. DET ran Alipay and WeChat Pay promotions during the 2025 Spring Festival (DET via Xinhua via AGBI, 2024). UnionPay's acceptance share is not quantified.

Seasonality. Chinese New Year 2026 is a nine-day consecutive holiday (Dragon Trail, 2025); May Day produced the 28% holiday-home increase cited above; and Q4 2025 Dubai bookings from China were up 34%, covering the October Golden Week period (Dida report via Khaleej Times; ForwardKeys via Gulf News).

Visa and air access. Dragon Trail's traveller survey describes the UAE's visa arrangements for Chinese nationals as an enabler, but a traveller survey does not establish current visa eligibility or permitted stay; those conditions should be taken from ICP. Beijing to Dubai fares were available from USD 380 at the time of Trip.com's statement.

Social and search platforms. China had 1.42bn people, 1.11bn internet users (78.0%) and 1.08bn social identities (76.5%) in January 2025; DataReportal does not publish platform-level reach for WeChat, Douyin, Kuaishou or Weibo. The platform data that exist are the Dragon Trail information-source shares above. DET uses Xiaohongshu for lifestyle content and Douyin for short video in China, and ran a Xiaohongshu influencer and user-generated content challenge, "Discover Dubai in a New Way", from 13 June to 12 July 2024 with hotel vouchers as prizes (DET via AGBI / China Daily; Jing Daily).

What the UAE authorities do. DET added Chinese-language guides, broadcast the CCTV Spring Festival Gala live at DXB, ran red envelope giveaways and promoted Alipay and WeChat Pay during the 2025 Spring Festival (DET via Xinhua via AGBI, 2024). DCT Abu Dhabi ran a "winter-china" campaign with actress Liu Yifei at Qasr Al Watan (Dragon Trail white paper via Skift, 2022).

ONS READING: HOW TO TARGET CHINA China is a recovering, independent-traveller market whose Dubai volume in 2024 was still below 2019 but whose forward bookings were the fastest growing of any named market before the 2026 shock. The practical requirements are listing and content presence on Ctrip and Xiaohongshu, the two sources used by two thirds of travellers, Alipay+ and WeChat Pay at the front desk, which the acquiring network already supports, and Chinese-language signage and menus, which DET itself prioritised. Timing is Chinese New Year, May Day and October Golden Week. The gap is that nothing was found on where Chinese guests stay or what they spend in Dubai, so hotels should test their approach and measure results rather than assume that the group-tour profile of a decade ago still applies.

3.6 Germany

Germany sent 560,000 visitors to Dubai in 2019 and 165,000 in 2020; in Jan to Sep 2019 it was eighth with 392,000 (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics; Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019). No Dubai count for 2024, 2025 or 2026 has been published. The signals that exist are indirect. In Abu Dhabi, German guests stayed 4.1 nights in 2025, third longest after Russia and the UK (DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN). ForwardKeys recorded German bookings to Dubai up 9% for Q4 2025. TUI Deutschland listed Dubai and the UAE as its tenth-largest destination for winter 2025/26, growing "disproportionately", with 21 TUI flights a week to Dubai and Abu Dhabi combined, while noting that Middle East demand had "declined somewhat" and shifted towards Greece, the Balearics and the Canaries (TUI via fvw). Germany is also a destination for UAE residents: the German National Tourist Board puts the UAE at around 42% of GCC tourists to Germany and 46% of GCC flights, with UAE arrivals up 7.7% in Jan to Oct 2025, GCC visitors generating 1.2m overnight stays and EUR 2.3bn in 2024, around 40% travelling on business and 70% repeat. Purpose, spend, hotel class, package share (held by DRV and FUR Reiseanalyse), lead time, payment and platform data for Germans in the UAE are all not established in reviewed sources. Western Europe's seasonality (22% in Q1) applies (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025).

ONS READING: GERMANY Germany is a winter package market served through TUI and its peers with a long stay profile, which suits beach resorts in Dubai, RAK and Abu Dhabi more than city hotels. With no official count since 2019, the TUI programme size and the ForwardKeys growth figure are the only public demand indicators, and both predate the 2026 shock.

3.7 United States

The USA sent 667,000 visitors to Dubai in 2019 and 191,000 in 2020 (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics); Jan to Sep 2019 was 481,000 (+1%), sixth place (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019). In Jan to Nov 2022 DET named the US among its top-performing markets alongside Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Russia (DET via Gulf News, Jan-Nov 2022). Since then only the Americas region is published: 617,000 (7%) in H1 2024, 374,000 (7%) in Q1 2025, 601,000 in Jan to May 2025, 1.1m (7%) in Jan to Oct 2025 and 1.40m (7%) for 2025 (DET via Dubai Protocol, Jan-Jun 2024; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Mar 2025). Abu Dhabi hosted 76,000 US hotel guests in Jan to Aug 2023 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023). Adara's distribution report for RateGain, undated, names India, the UK, Russia and the US as the leading non-Middle East markets for UAE hotel bookings and says US hotel bookings "reportedly dropped over the last two years" (no figures). DXB ranked the US fifth among its country markets in Jan to Sep 2025, without a passenger count (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025). None of the behavioural dimensions examined in this chapter is established for US visitors to the UAE in the sources reviewed.

ONS READING: UNITED STATES The US is a long-haul market whose only recent signal is a reported decline and a flat 7% regional share. It is also the market most exposed to the jet-fuel and distance argument that IHCL makes against long-haul recovery. Hotels with US corporate or cruise business should rely on their own data; no public figures establish the size of this demand.

3.8 Pakistan

Pakistan sent 501,000 visitors to Dubai in 2019 and 212,000 in 2020 (compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics); Jan to Sep 2019 was 378,000, ninth place (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019). DET reported 254,000 Pakistani overnight visitors for Jan to Oct 2023 and placed Pakistan in its top ten; it held workshops in Islamabad, Faisalabad and Sialkot, ran the "Chalo Dubai" campaign with Urdu video content in 2023, and noted direct flights from eight Pakistani cities (DET via ProPakistani). Pakistan was DXB's fourth country market with 3.2m passengers in Jan to Sep 2025, after India (8.8m), Saudi Arabia (5.5m) and the UK (4.6m); this airport figure is two-way and includes residents and transit (Dubai Airports via The News, Jan-Sep 2025). Abu Dhabi hosted 72,000 Pakistani hotel guests in Jan to Aug 2023 (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023). No 2024 to 2026 visitor count and no behavioural data were found.

ONS READING: PAKISTAN Pakistan is a short-haul, Urdu-speaking market that DET works through Tier-2 city workshops in the same way it works India. The airport data show a large travelling population, but the published tourist count is three years old, so a hotel would size it from its own PMS and treat it as part of the South Asia region that grew to 17% of Dubai's visitors in 2026.

3.9 Philippines

The Philippines entered Dubai's top ten in Jan to Sep 2019 with 352,000 visitors, up 29% (old); it does not appear in the full-year 2019 table fetched (Dubai Tourism via Gulf News, Jan-Sep 2019; compiled by Tourism Analytics, via DET data compiled by Tourism Analytics). Abu Dhabi hosted 115,000 Filipino hotel guests in Jan to Aug 2023, its fourth largest market that period after domestic, India and the UK (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023). GCash, the Philippine wallet, is among the wallets accepted through Alipay+ on 50,000+ UAE merchants (Network International, 2023). No 2024 to 2026 count and no behavioural data were found.

ONS READING: PHILIPPINES The Philippines appears in the UAE data as a hotel-guest nationality rather than as a marketed inbound source, and no source reviewed separates resident Filipinos from inbound visitors. Hotels seeing Filipino guests should assume a mix of resident, VFR and transit demand until a count is published, and note that GCash acceptance is already in place through Alipay+.

4. UAE residents and domestic demand

Residents became the first market hotels turned to when international arrivals fell in 2026. They were already a measurable market before the decline. Dubai's population reached 4 million on 28 August 2025 according to the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment; higher 2026 figures that appeared in press narration are unattributed and are not used (Gulf News). The UAE's total outbound travel was forecast at 5.3m visits and USD 23.93bn of expenditure for 2025 (VisitBritain, 2024); UAE residents made about 374,000 visits to the UK alone in 2024, spending GBP 613.2m, a rounded average of about GBP 1,641 per visit, with 98% travelling by air, more than 75% living in Dubai and around 20% in Abu Dhabi, 34% UK nationals and 38% Emiratis (VisitBritain). That is outbound travel, not inbound hotel demand; its relevance is as the staycation market's competitor.

Eid data. Visa's Travel Pulse describes UAE-resident Visa cardholders over Eid Al Adha 2025 (5 to 8 June), and its spend measures cover all categories (restaurants, shopping, attractions and accommodation), not hotels alone: 87% of those cardholders opted for short trips, outbound travel rose 2%, 12% of frequent travellers stayed in the UAE (10% in 2024), Visa-observed domestic spend rose 68% year on year and spend per card 20%; Dubai took 70% of that Visa-observed domestic spend and 52% of staycationers, Abu Dhabi 20% and 21%, Sharjah 5% and 14%; restaurants were 18% and luxury shopping 15% of staycation spend (Visa card data). The 70% is Dubai's share of Visa-observed domestic spend, not a share of UAE hotel revenue. Among resident cardholders who did travel abroad, London drew 4% of travellers and 5% of spend at USD 819 per card, Paris 2% and 3% at USD 1,325 per card with luxury shopping 49% of it, and Istanbul 4% and 3% at USD 586 per card (Visa UAE, 2025). Skyscanner found 80% of UAE travel searches in April 2025 were for trips of seven days or less, 96% of 2024 bookings to GCC cities were under a week with a "2 to 4 days sweet spot", GCC searches rose 48% in the week of 21 April, and the top searched destinations for 5 to 9 June were Dubai, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscat; Dubai was third globally for hotel bookings in April after Mumbai and London (Skyscanner via Gulf News, 2025). GDRFA Dubai processed 629,559 passengers through Dubai's air, land and sea ports over the four days, 581,527 at DXB, 46,863 at the Hatta land port and 1,169 by sea.

87%

UAE-resident Visa cardholders choosing short trips, Eid Al Adha 2025

Visa card data, 5 to 8 Jun 2025 Visa Travel Pulse UAE

+68%

Visa-observed domestic spend, all categories, year on year

UAE-resident cardholders, Eid Al Adha 2025 Visa Travel Pulse UAE

70%

Dubai's share of Visa-observed domestic spend (not of hotel revenue)

52% of staycationers, Eid Al Adha 2025 Visa Travel Pulse UAE

80%

UAE travel searches for trips of 7 days or less

Skyscanner, Apr 2025 Skyscanner via Gulf News

629,559

Passengers through Dubai ports in four days

GDRFA, Eid Al Adha 5 to 8 Jun 2025 GDRFA Dubai via Gulf Business

Domestic share of hotel guests. Only two emirates publish it. Sharjah's UAE domestic guests were 11% of hotel guests in Jan to Aug 2024, second only to Russia's 21% (SCTDA, Jan-Aug 2024). Abu Dhabi's domestic guests were 713,000, 22% of 3.246m hotel guests, in Jan to Aug 2023, the largest single segment (DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023). RAK lists domestic first among its growth markets at +7% in 2025, and in H1 2026 its domestic arrivals rose 47%, with a Q2 campaign that RAKTDA credits with 224,000 room nights, AED 104.4m of hotel revenue and 127,817 additional visitors at daily rates in line with 2025. Dubai publishes no resident or domestic hotel-guest count or staycation share; the Visa and Skyscanner data above are the only quantifications.

What the authorities do. DET's 2026 "A Dubai Invite" campaign treats residents as hosts, drawing more than 90,000 applications from residents of almost 200 nationalities, with around AED 3,000 of sponsor benefits per resident (Hoor Al Khaja, SVP International Operations, DCTCM, via Gulf Business; DET via Entrepreneur ME). Dubai Summer Surprises 2025 ran staycation packages at about 24 hotels at up to 30% off for UAE and GCC residents alongside Kids Go Free (DFRE/DET via Arabian Business). Cavendish Maxwell's observation that midscale hotels held up better in 2026 on domestic, regional and corporate demand shows which tier the resident market reached.

How residents plan and book. In Skyscanner's survey of 1,000 UAE travellers, YouTube (63%), Instagram (59%) and TikTok (51%) are the top travel inspiration sources (overlapping selections), and 92% plan to holiday abroad as much as or more than before in 2027. More than 50% organise trips independently and around 15% use agencies (TGM Research UAE Travel Insights 2025, 2025). In a YouGov poll of 1,000 UAE respondents, 85% prefer contacting companies through WhatsApp and 65% messaged a business in the past year. DataReportal's late-2025 UAE figures count social media identities, not people: 12.5m identities, 110% of the 11.4m population, of which 67.1% are male in the figures DataReportal reports, a description of identities rather than of residents or hotel guests; advertising reach, which is also not a count of unique residents and must not be summed across platforms, is 9.70m for Facebook, 8.05m for Instagram, 8.37m for YouTube and 5.13m for Snapchat. 86% of UAE travellers say they want places different from those commonly seen on social media and 76% picked a destination based mainly on where they would stay, the second finding points to an opportunity for hotels offering staycations.

ONS READING: RESIDENTS AS A MARKET The resident market is short-trip, weekend and Eid-driven, concentrated in Dubai, and reached through the same platforms a hotel already uses for its UAE presence. It is the only market with card-based spending data for 2025, limited to Visa cardholders and spanning all spend categories, and the one that grew during the 2026 shock. Its limits are rate and length of stay: staycation packages were priced at up to 30% off, the sweet spot is two to four nights, and residents' outbound alternative is large. A hotel whose own data show resident demand could use this segment to support bookings in low season and on quieter weekends. It should measure those bookings in its own PMS, as no official Dubai series provides that information.

5. The markets compared

The table below puts the five ranked markets and the resident segment side by side on the dimensions used in the profiles. Cells read "Not established in reviewed sources" where nothing in the sources reviewed covers the market on that dimension. Geography is Dubai unless stated; Abu Dhabi figures are marked AD. Germany, the USA, Pakistan and the Philippines are omitted because almost every cell would be empty; their available facts are in the shorter profiles above.

Dimension	India	Saudi Arabia and GCC	United Kingdom	Russia	China	UAE residents	Source
Latest Dubai count	2.46m (2023, +34%)	GCC 2.99m (2025); Saudi 442,000 Jan to May 2023; 1.9m to UAE as a whole in 2024 (not a Dubai count)	1.327m (2024, +14%); 1.04m Jan to Sep 2025	1.4m (2025, +9%)	824,000 (2024, +31%)	Not established in reviewed sources	DET via IANS / PTI; DET via Gulf News; Dubai Tourism via India Outbound; Sabq (Saudi daily) citing DET; DET via NI Travel News / TravelMole; DET via Emarat Al Youm via Gulf News; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregator; DET via Xinhua via AGBIOfficial; years differ by column and are not one ranking
Dubai rank (DCTCM)	1	Saudi 3, Oman 4	2	5	not ranked (top ten per ForwardKeys)	n/a	Shahab Shayan, Regional Director DCTCM, via Gulf News; ForwardKeys via Gulf News (citing Emarat Al Youm)Official
Abu Dhabi hotel guests 2025	436,124 (+22%)	Saudi 200,652	250,906	257,200	248,494 (stays +13%)	22% of guests (Jan to Aug 2023)	DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DCT Abu Dhabi via AletihadOfficial
Share of market's outbound going to UAE	26.3% of 32.71m departures (2025)	Dubai 13% of Saudi summer 2025 travellers; 17.4m trips (2025)	UAE visited by 6% of UK adults; 94.6m visits abroad (2024)	UAE second destination, >10% of 17.4m tourist trips (2024)	UAE 10th destination; >130m outbound (2025)	5.3m outbound visits forecast (2025)	Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Annual Tourism Snapshot 2025; Visa Travel Pulse KSA Summer Holidays Edition; WTM Spotlight Riyadh Trends Report 2026; ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26; UK Office for National Statistics; ATOR via Fontanka; Dida report via Khaleej Times; Jane Sun, CEO Trip.com, via The National; VisitBritain (IPS; outbound total forecast)Official / Industry / Platform
Purpose of trip	55% leisure, 33% VFR (MakeMyTrip trips)	Leisure 48% of Visa cardholders' cross-border spend (summer 2025)	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	87% of resident Visa cardholders took short trips at Eid Al Adha 2025	MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today; Visa KSA; Visa Travel Pulse UAEPlatform
Length of stay	Not established in reviewed sources	11 days per trip for Visa-cardholder summer multi-trippers (all destinations)	AD 4.2 nights (2025); Dubai about 4.5 days (DTCM, Q1 2012)	AD 4.3 nights (2025); 3.4 days (Mabrian estimate, AD 2024)	Not established in reviewed sources	2 to 4 days sweet spot; 96% GCC bookings under a week	Visa KSA; DCT Abu Dhabi via Abu Dhabi Media Office / GDN; DTCM via Travel Weekly UK; Mabrian (Data Appeal); Skyscanner via Gulf NewsOfficial / Platform
Spend	~50% of hotel bookings above INR 7,000/night	USD 540 accommodation, USD 135 entertainment per Visa card (summer 2025, all destinations, all categories); "spend the most" as reported	Not established in reviewed sources (UK ONS dataset holds it)	Third-highest daily spend AD (Mabrian); "spend the most" as reported	Not established in reviewed sources	Visa-observed spend per card +20% at Eid Al Adha 2025, all categories	MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today; Visa KSA; Issam Kazim, CEO DCTCM, at ATM 2025 via Zawya/WAM; Mabrian (Data Appeal); Visa Travel Pulse UAEPlatform / Official
Hotel class	INR 5,000 to 7,500 band growing; ~20% of families search >INR 10,000	>75% of Almosafer Q1 2025 room nights 4 and 5 star; Wego 5-star 37 to 41%	Not established in reviewed sources	AD 5-star 42.7%, 4-star 28.9% (Mabrian estimate)	Not established in reviewed sources	Midscale held up best in 2026	MakeMyTrip 2025 year-end trends via Curly Tales; MakeMyTrip India Travel Trends Report (1st edition); Almosafer via Gulf Business; Wego via Hospitality Net; Mabrian (Data Appeal); Skift, data Cavendish MaxwellPlatform / Industry
Alternative accommodation	Homestay and villa searches +42%	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	Hotels 90%, resorts ~1 in 4 (AD, Mabrian estimate)	Holiday-home bookings +28% at May Day (one operator)	Not established in reviewed sources	MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today; Mabrian (Data Appeal); Dida report via Khaleej TimesPlatform / Industry
Package vs independent	Packages "largely flat"; 24% of accommodation via OTAs	Not established in reviewed sources	54% booked a package; 61% of those going abroad	Operator-led (Intourist, Fun&Sun); share not established in reviewed sources	>50% independent, 27% group	>50% independent, ~15% agencies	MakeMyTrip Q1 FY26 earnings call (MarketBeat transcript); Google / Kantar "Travel Rewired" via FoneArena; ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregator; AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; Dragon Trail; TGM Research UAE Travel Insights 2025Platform / Industry
Dominant booking channel or app	MakeMyTrip (USD 9.8bn gross bookings FY25); mobile ~73% projected	Almosafer app 70% of transactions; WhatsApp 15% of retail	Operators and travel professionals (34%)	Tour operators; Yandex for search	Ctrip 69% and Xiaohongshu 66% for information; Ctrip 71% of package bookings	WhatsApp preferred by 85%	MakeMyTrip results release; Phocuswright via PhocusWire; Almosafer via Gulf Business; ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregator; Yandex via Campaign ME; Dragon Trail; YouGov for Zbooni via Communicate OnlinePlatform / Industry
Lead time	56% of hotel rooms under 14 days; UAE top-three last-minute	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	Not established in reviewed sources	GCC searches +48% in week of 21 Apr for 5 to 9 Jun travel	MakeMyTrip "How India Travels Abroad" via Travel Trends Today; Skyscanner via Gulf NewsPlatform
Peak months	December; long weekends; summer (South Asia 17% in H1)	Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, 68-day summer; GCC share flat at 14 to 16%	Q1 (Western Europe 22%); school holidays	Q1 (CIS 17%); December to January	Chinese New Year (9 days 2026), May Day, Golden Week	Eid; summer DSS	MakeMyTrip via Outlook Business; DET via BW Hotelier; DET via Dubai Protocol; Travel operators via Gulf News; Wego via Hospitality Net; DET via Gulf News; Smart Travels (DMC) and WTTC via Gulf News; Dragon Trail; Dida report via Khaleej Times; DFRE/DET via Arabian BusinessOfficial / Platform
Payment	Not established in reviewed sources (UPI acceptance not verified)	Apple Pay 36%, BNPL 25% (Almosafer)	Not established in reviewed sources	Mir announced 2021; current status not established; confirm with acquirer	Alipay+ 50,000+ merchants; WeChat Pay 5,000+ terminals	Not established in reviewed sources	Almosafer via Gulf Business; TRBusiness; FTN News; Network International; Network International via Fintech TimesPlatform / Estimate
Visa and access	5-year multi-entry visa (GDRFA, not India-only); VoA widening reported Feb 2025 (check ICP); DXB 8.8m passengers (two-way)	ID-card entry announced Apr 2022 (confirm with ICP); DXB 5.5m; ~100 flights/week (2023 estimate)	Emirates 133+ weekly flights (late-2025 schedule); DXB 4.6m; BA suspended to 31 May 2026	Visa-free per forum; 14 cities, 5 UAE airports, ~300 weekly flights announced for late Oct 2026	Visa conditions: see ICP (survey account not used)	n/a	DET via IANS; DET statement via India Outbound; Dubai Airports via The News (PK); NCEMA/ICP via Gulf News; Travel operators via Gulf News; Emirates via Gulf News; PA via Yahoo Travel; Roscongress / Russian Ministry of Economic Development forum report; AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; Dragon TrailOfficial / Industry
Top platforms	YouTube (68% use for ideas; 53% top source), Instagram	Ad reach: YouTube 79.4%, Snapchat 72.1%, Instagram 49.3%, Facebook 47.7%, X 45.7% (Jan 2025)	54.8m social identities; 22% use social for inspiration (42% of 18 to 24s)	VK 65.0% of population; TikTok ad reach 48.8% of adults; Yandex	Ctrip, Xiaohongshu, Douyin; platform reach not established in reviewed sources	YouTube 63%, Instagram 59%, TikTok 51% (Skyscanner survey, n=1,000)	Google / Kantar "Travel Rewired" via FoneArena; FINN Partners via PRmoment; DataReportal Digital 2025 Saudi Arabia; We Are Social / DataReportal Digital 2025 UK; ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26; DataReportal Digital 2025 Russian Federation; Yandex via Campaign ME; Dragon Trail; DET via AGBI / China Daily; DataReportal Digital 2025 China; Skyscanner Travel Trends 2027 via TradeArabiaIndustry / Platform
UAE authority activity	Roadshows in Tier 1 to 3 cities (DET, DCT, SCTDA); Kids Go Free; Amazon and Inshorts campaigns	Dubai Summer Surprises staycation packages; no Saudi roadshow found	"Find Your Story" (Millie Bobby Brown); Marriott, Hyatt, Premier Inn partnerships	Intourist workshop; "Abu Dhabi Days" Moscow; "Let's Travel!" forum	Chinese-language guides; CCTV Gala at DXB; Alipay and WeChat promotions; Xiaohongshu and Douyin; Liu Yifei campaign	"A Dubai Invite" (90,000+ applications); DSS	DET via Travel Trends Today; DET via BW Hotelier; DCT Abu Dhabi via Travel Trends Today; SCTDA; DFRE/DET via Arabian Business; DET via Breaking Travel News; DET via ATOR Telegram (@atorus) via Samokatus aggregator; AGBI opinion citing UAE Embassy, NRA, ATOR; Roscongress / Russian Ministry of Economic Development forum report; DET via Xinhua via AGBI; DET via AGBI / China Daily; Dragon Trail white paper via Skift; Hoor Al Khaja, SVP International Operations, DCTCM, via Gulf Business; DET via Entrepreneur MEOfficial

6. Gaps in the evidence

Not established in reviewed sources. Saudi, Omani, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Bahraini visitor counts for Dubai, 2024 to 2026. DET publishes the GCC region only; the single 2024 Saudi figure, 1.9m, refers to the UAE as a whole, not Dubai (DET via Gulf News, 2025; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Aug 2026). Holder: DET Tourism Performance Report country tables (dubaidet.gov.ae pages did not load data), Dubai Pulse open data.

Not established in reviewed sources. Indian visitor counts for Dubai in 2024 and 2025. The last DET figures are 2.46m for 2023 and 687,000 for Q1 2024 (DET via IANS / PTI; Bader Ali Habib, DET, via BW Hotelier, Jan-Mar 2024); DET has since published South Asia only (DET statement via India Outbound, 2024; DET via Gulf News, 2025). Holder: DET India office releases, SATTE and OTM trade briefings. DataReportal's India platform reach figures were not fetched for this edition.

Not established in reviewed sources. Length of stay by nationality in Dubai. DET publishes all-market averages only (3.7 nights 2025; 3.6 Jan to Oct 2025; 3.8 Jan to May 2025) (DET via Gulf News; DET via Gulf News, Jan-Oct 2025); Abu Dhabi publishes Russia, UK, Germany and Italy only; the only UK Dubai figure is DTCM-era. Holders: DET visitor survey, STR/CoStar, Mabrian, Data Appeal.

Not established in reviewed sources. Booking lead time by source market for UAE trips. Only India is covered, by MakeMyTrip. Nothing was found for Saudi Arabia, the UK, Russia or China. Holders: Sojern, ForwardKeys, Expedia Group Traveler Insights, Booking.com country surveys, Think with Google.

Not established in reviewed sources. Mir and UnionPay acceptance status in the UAE, 2025 to 2026. The 2021 Network International announcement is historical and an unsourced 2025 travel guide omits the UAE from its Mir list; neither establishes current availability (TRBusiness; FTN News). Holders: Network International, Mashreq NEOPAY, Magnati, UAE Central Bank, NSPK. The same gap applies to UPI acceptance for Indian visitors through NPCI International.

Not established in reviewed sources. Package versus independent share by source country for UAE trips. UK (54%), China (27% group) and India (packages flat) have national-level figures only (ABTA Holiday Habits 2025-26, Jul/Aug 2025; Dragon Trail, 2025); Saudi Arabia and Russia have none. Holders: ABTA, Jet2 and TUI results commentary, Almosafer and Seera investor reports, ATOR, MakeMyTrip Holidays.

Not established in reviewed sources. Spend per visitor by nationality in Dubai. DCTCM says Russians and Gulf nationals spend the most but gives no amounts; Visa's Saudi figures cover all destinations; Mabrian's Russian ranking is Abu Dhabi only. Holders: Visa and Mastercard tourism spend reports, DET visitor surveys, Network International.

Not established in reviewed sources. UK visits, nights and spend in the UAE for 2024 and 2025. The ONS dataset "Travel trends estimates: UK residents' visits abroad" holds the country table but could not be fetched (UK Office for National Statistics, 2024). Holder: ons.gov.uk datasets/ukresidentsvisitsabroad (released 16 Oct 2026).

Not established in reviewed sources. A single authoritative count of Russian visitors to the UAE. FSB-based quarterly series, ATOR, UAE Embassy, NRA and DET figures differ by scope, period and definition, and which of them include transit and residents is not stated. Holders: ATOR (atorus.ru, not fetchable), FSB Border Service quarterly tables, DET Russia market release.

Not established in reviewed sources. Platform-level reach for China (WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu), for Russia (Telegram, YouTube) and for the UK (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook counts); DataReportal publishes totals only for China and Russia and only the headline totals were available for the UK. Holders: QuestMobile, CNNIC, Mediascope, DataReportal Digital 2025 United Kingdom full report.

Not established in reviewed sources. Dubai's resident or domestic share of hotel guests and room nights. Sharjah (11%) and Abu Dhabi (22%) publish it (SCTDA, Jan-Aug 2024; DCT Abu Dhabi via Aletihad, Jan-Aug 2023); Dubai does not. Visa and Skyscanner card and search data are the only quantifications. Holders: DET, STR/CoStar, Visa, Mastercard, Network International.

Not established in reviewed sources. Saudi-UAE road travel volumes at Ghuwaifat and Al Batha. The last public figures are from 2018 (Abu Dhabi Police via Gulf News); Hatta's annual count is from around 2017; the only current land figure is 46,863 through Hatta over Eid Al Adha 2025 (GDRFA Dubai via Gulf News; GDRFA Dubai via Gulf Business). Holders: ICP, Abu Dhabi Police, Saudi Jawazat, GDRFA Dubai.

Not established in reviewed sources. Chinese visitors to Dubai in 2025, and their length of stay, hotel class and spend. The 2024 count and ForwardKeys' Q4 2025 growth are the latest. Holders: DET China office, Trip.com Group destination reports, Dragon Trail white paper (paywalled), China Tourism Academy.

Not established in reviewed sources. Germany, USA and Philippines visitor counts for Dubai, 2024 to 2026, and any behavioural data. Only the 2019 baselines, TUI's programme note, Adara's qualitative decline and DXB's unranked US passenger position exist. Holders: DET country table, DRV Fakten und Zahlen, US NTTO I-92 outbound data, Philippine DOT.

Not established in reviewed sources. OTA versus direct booking split for UAE hotels by source country. No dataset was found for any market; the Indian figure of 24% of accommodation via OTAs is national, not UAE-specific (Google / Kantar "Travel Rewired" via FoneArena, 2025). Likely holders: STR/CoStar and Lighthouse channel reports, Expedia Group and Booking Holdings investor decks, SiteMinder Changing Traveller Report country editions, D-EDGE channel mix reports.

Sources & evidence notes

Evidence grades describe provenance. Verification status records the supplied editorial review, not a guarantee of accuracy. Cite the original publisher when using a figure.

DET via Gulf News verified

19.59 million international overnight visitors, +5%

Scope: Dubai, 2025
Date: 9 Feb 2026
Evidence grade: OFFICIAL

Core 2025 DET figures checked against the original official release carried by WAM. The DET website itself returned a page shell. International overnight visitors, available rooms, occupancy, ADR, RevPAR and occupied room nights are distinct measures; rounded growth rates are publisher values.

Source markets: who comes to the UAE and how to reach them

In brief

1. How the authorities report source markets

Western Europe was Dubai's largest source region in 2025 with 4.1 million visitors, and three regions tied at 15%

India sent 436,124 hotel guests to Abu Dhabi in 2025, 1.7 times the next market

2. The 2026 shift: short-haul carries the recovery

South Asia rose two points and the GCC one point in January to August 2026 while Western Europe and CIS each lost a point

3. Market profiles

3.1 India

Indian visitors to Dubai reached 2.46 million in 2023 against 1.97 million in 2019; no 2024 or 2025 count has been published

3.2 Saudi Arabia and the GCC (Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain)

3.3 United Kingdom

3.4 Russia and the CIS

Published counts of Russian visitors range from 1.4 million (Dubai only) to 2.4 million (UAE-wide) for 2024 and 2025

3.5 China

3.6 Germany

3.7 United States

3.8 Pakistan

3.9 Philippines

4. UAE residents and domestic demand

5. The markets compared

6. Gaps in the evidence

Sources & evidence notes

Your market.Your next move.

Your market.
Your next move.