dune buggy dubai from deira

Type of tourism

For the bus company, see Adventure Travel (bus company).

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Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in late 20th and early 21st century as tourists seek out-of-the-ordinary or "roads less traveled" vacations, but lack of a clear operational definition has hampered measurement of market size and growth. According to the U.S.-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes physical activity, a cultural exchange, and connection with outdoor activities and nature.^[1]

Adventure tourists may have the motivation to achieve mental states characterized as rush or flow,^[2] resulting from stepping outside their comfort zone. This may be from experiencing culture shock or by performing acts requiring significant effort and involve some degree of risk, real or perceived, or physical danger. This may include activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, mountain biking, cycling, canoeing, scuba diving, rafting, kayaking, zip-lining, paragliding, hiking, exploring, Geocaching, canyoneering, river trekking, sandboarding, caving and rock climbing.^[3] Some obscure forms of adventure travel include disaster and ghetto tourism.^[4] Other rising forms of adventure travel include social and jungle tourism.

Access to inexpensive consumer technology, with respect to Global Positioning Systems, flashpacking, social networking and photography, have increased the worldwide interest in adventure travel. The interest in independent adventure travel has also increased as more specialist travel websites emerge offering previously niche locations and sports.

Adventure sports tourism has traditionally been dominated by men. Although women's participation has grown, the gender gap is still pronounced in terms of quantitative engagement in these forms of sport tourism. Yet, in competitive adventure sport tourism, the success rate of females is currently higher than that of males ^[5]

History

[edit]

Since ancient times, humans have traveled in search for food and skills of survival, but have also engaged in adventurous travel, in explorations of sea lanes, a destination, or even a new country.

Adventurer travelers began to push to the limits, with the mountaineering of Matterhorn in 1865 and the river rafting on the Colorado River in 1869. Shortly after, two key institutions were formed, including the National Geographic Society and the Explorers Club, which continue to support adventure travel.

At the end of World War II, modern adventure began to take off, with the 1950 French Annapurna expedition and the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. Today, it remains a niche of travel and a fast-changing sector with new variants of activities for a travel experience.

Types

[edit]

Accessible tourism

[edit]

There is a trend for developing tourism specifically for the disabled. Adventure travel for the disabled has become a US$13 billion a year industry in North America.^[6] Some adventure travel destinations offer diverse programs and job opportunities developed specifically for the disabled.^[7]

Extreme tourism involves travel to dangerous (extreme) locations or participation in dangerous events or activities. This form of tourism can overlap with extreme sport.

Travelling to locations far away from human settlements and/or infrastructure. Could be close to big city (few hours drive) in terms of straight line distance, but reaching the location requires a long period of time and/or a large amount of effort. Self sufficiency required, as it's difficult to get timely help or rescue in an emergency.^[8]

Jungle tourism is a subcategory of adventure travel defined by active multifaceted physical means of travel in the jungle regions of the earth. According to the Glossary of Tourism Terms, jungle tours have become a major component of green tourism in tropical destinations and are a relatively recent phenomenon of Western international tourism.

Overland travel or overlanding refers to an overland journey – perhaps originating with Marco Polo's first overland expedition in the 13th century from Venice to the Mongolian court of Kublai Khan. Today overlanding is a form of extended adventure holiday, embarking on a long journey, often in a group. Overland companies provide a converted truck or a bus plus a tour leader, and the group travels together overland for a period of weeks or months.

Since the 1960s overlanding has been a popular means of travel between destinations across Africa, Europe, Asia (particularly India), the Americas and Australia. The "Hippie trail" of the 60s and 70s saw thousands of young westerners travelling through the Middle East to India and Nepal. Many of the older traditional routes are still active, along with newer routes like Iceland to South Africa overland and Central Asian post soviet states.

Scuba diving is a sport in which participants explore underwater places while inhaling compressed air from tanks. Scuba diving is most popular in locations with tropical coral reefs, but it may be found in almost any location with water.

Popular destinations:

• Belize's Great Blue Hole
• Tahiti
• Sipadan Island's Barracuda Point

• Buckley, R. (2006). Adventure Tourism. Wallingford, UK: CABI. OCLC 4802912392.

• Media related to Adventure travel at Wikimedia Commons
• Scuba divers swim among the sharks, Fayetteville Observer

 

Tourism in Dubai is a major part of the economy of Dubai. Dubai was the third most visited city in the world in 2023 with 17 million international visitors according to Euromonitor International.^[1][2] Dubai hosts more than 800 hotels with more than 150,000 rooms.^[3][4]

History

[edit]

The discovery of oil in 1966 kick-started the development of present Dubai, however Sheikh Hamad bin Maktoum (ruler from 1958 till 1990) realised one day Dubai would run out of oil and started building an economy that would outlast it.^[5] A quote commonly attributed to Sheikh Rashid reflected his concern that Dubai's oil, which was discovered in 1966 and which began production in 1969, would run out within a few generations. Sheikh Rashid stated "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel".^[6] Sheikh Rashid realized early he needed to diversify the emirate of Dubai's economy by building on the city's trading history and therefore he set out to establish Dubai as the region's trade and service hub. By 1979, he was successful in establishing the Jebel Ali Port, which became the logical shipping centre for the entire United Arab Emirates and the world's largest man-made port. He also upgraded Dubai International Airport and built the Dubai World Trade Centre, which was then the tallest building in the Middle East. By the end of the 1970s, the stage was set for the diversification of Dubai's economy away from oil and into other areas such as tourism.^[7]

In 1989 the Dubai Commerce and Tourism Promotion Board was established, to promote Dubai as a luxury destination for the up-tier market and influential business sectors. In January 1997, it was replaced with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).^[8]

In May 2013, the government of Dubai launched the Dubai Tourism Strategy 2020, with the key objective to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2020 and making Dubai a first choice destination for international leisure travellers as well as business travellers.^[9] In 2018, the strategy was expanded by setting new goals of attracting 21-23 million visitors in 2022 and 23-25 million visitors by 2025.^[10] The key objectives from 2013 and 2018 were not met due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The need to maintain its tourism industry has hampered Dubai's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[11] Along with COVID-19 Dubai's tourism sector has also been hurt by a greater international awareness of the status of human rights in the emirate and in particular the treatment of Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum.^[12]

In November 2022, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced a national tourism strategy until 2031. The goal of the strategy is to attract Dh 100 billion in additional tourism investments (so that the tourism sector's contribution will be Dh450bn of Dubai's GDP in 2031) and receive 40 million hotel guests in 2031. The strategy includes 25 initiatives and policies to support the development of the tourism sector in the country.^[13]

In April 2025, the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism introduced a new programme offering media training to students for promotion of tourism in the UAE. Applicants are provided with flights, luxury apartment and three months of income, along with certification from Dubai College of Tourism for posting about traveling experiences in Dubai on social media. According to Middle East Eye, this program aims to whitewash its human rights violations and war crime accusations in Sudan.^[14]

Visitors and visitor spending

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Since 1982, Dubai continued to be one of the fastest growing destinations for tourists. In 2002, visitors were mainly from other Gulf Cooperation Council members which accounted for 34% of tourists, South Asia accounted for 25%, other Arab states 16%, Europe 15%, and Africa 9%. In 2003, revenue from tourism exceeded $1 billion and surpassed oil revenues to directly and indirectly account for over 17% and 28% of GDP respectively.^[15]

From January to June 2019 8.36 million international tourists visited Dubai. Most of the visitors were from India (997,000) followed by Saudi Arabia (755,000) and the United Kingdom (586,000).^[16]

Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index 2019 found that tourists spend more in Dubai than in any other country. In 2018, the country topped the list for the fourth year in a row with a total spend of $30.82 billion, a 3.8% increase over 2017 ($29.70 billion). The average spend per day was $553.^[17]

In 2019, Dubai attracted a total of 16.73 million tourists, which was an increase of 5.09% on the previous year. However, in 2020, the number of visitors dropped to 5.51 million due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[18]

Year	Total international visitors [19][20][21][15][22][23]	Increase/decrease	Visitor spending ($m)[24]
1982	374,400	— N/a
1990	632,903	69.04%
1991	716,642	13.23%
1992	944,350	31.77%
1993	1,088,000	15.21%
1994	1,239,000	13.88%
1995	1,601,000	29.22%	632.0
1996	1,768,000	10.43%	743.0
1997	1,792,000	1.36%	814.0
1998	2,184,000	21.88%	859.0
1999	2,481,000	13.60%	893.0
2000	3,027,000	22.01%	1,063.0
2001	3,626,625	19.81%	1,200.0
2002	4,756,280	31.15%	1,332.0
2003	4,980,228	4.71%	1,438.0
2004	5,420,000	8.83%	1,593.0
2005	6,160,003	13.65%	3,218.0
2006	6,441,670	4.57%	4,972.0
2007	6,951,798[25][26]	7.12%	6,072.0
2008	6,996,449[25]	0.64%	7,162.0
2009	7,580,000[27]	8.34%	7,352.0
2010	8,410,000	10.95%	8,577.0
2011	9,910,000	17.84%	9,204.0
2012	10,950,000	10.49%	10,924.0
2013	12,900,000	17.81%	12,389.0
2014	13,200,000	2.33%	15,221.0
2015	14,200,000	7.58%	25,587.1
2016	14,870,000	4.72%	28,657.4
2017	15,790,000	6.19%	29,705.5
2018	15,920,000	0.82%	34,609.5
2019	16,730,000	5.09%	38,413.3
2020	5,510,000[a]	-67.07%	24,615.4
2021	7,280,000[b]	32.12%
2022	14,360,000[28]	97.25%
2023	17,150,000[29]	19.4%
2024	18,720,000[30]	9.2%

 

Accommodation

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Main article: List of hotels in Dubai

In the last three years, Dubai saw an increase in 4 and 5 star hotels and number of rooms, but a decrease in standard hotel apartments. The total number of rooms increased by 9,098 from 2015 to 2017, an increase of 9.25%. Prior to the Expo 2020 hotels in Dubai were reducing room rates to stimulate demand as supply accelerated. Based on data of August 2019, Dubai hoteliers reported a 7.6% rise in supply against 7.4% increase in demand.^[31] Average room rates stood at AED 486 in June 2019 while in the same month of 2018 average room rates were at 544 AED.^[32] In July 2019, Dubai's Jumeirah Group LLC fired 500 people due to a decline in tourism. In the second quarter of 2019, hospitality sector has had the worst quarter since 2009.^[33]

Hotel inventory numbers 2014-2023^[19]

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total 5 star hotels		91	96	103	113	128	134	143	151	157
Total 5 star hotel rooms		31,551	33,122	35,853	38,543	43,133	44,067	47,035	49,585	51,809
Total 4 star hotels		106	112	122	146	158	161	181	189	194
Total 4 star hotel rooms		21,208	22,990	25,289	29,908	33,120	34,905	40,377	42,505	43,283
Total 1-3 star hotels		264	267	260	260	258	225	243	270	274
Total 1-3 star hotel rooms		19,714	21,767	21,591	22,634	24,491	21,732	25,384	28,512	28,789
Total hotel apartments (deluxe/superior)		66	66	65	68	68	74	80	82	85
Total deluxe/superior rooms		9,641	9,519	9,786	10,522	10,520	11,845	12,606	13,113	13,842
Total hotel apartments (standard)		150	140	131	129	129	117	108	112	111
Total standard rooms		16,219	15,447	14,930	14,360	14,856	14,398	12,548	12,781	12,568
Total establishments	657	677	681	681	716	741	711	755	804	821
Total available rooms	92,333	98,333	102,845	107,431	115,967	126,120	126,947	137,950	146,496	150,291
Average occupancy	79%	77%	78%	78%	76%	75%	54%	67%	73%	77%

 

Visitor Statistics

[edit]

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Rank	Country	6/2023	2022
1	India	1,223,000	1,842,000
5	Russia	616,000	758,000
4	United Kingdom	555,000	1,043,000
3	Saudi Arabia	538,000	1,216,000
2	Oman	511,000	1,311,000
6	United States	362,000	590,000
7	Germany	329,000	422,000
17	China	260,000	177,000
10	Iran	196,000	328,000
13	Israel	196,000	239,000
8	France	180,000	364,000
11	Egypt	168,000	288,000
12	Kuwait	152,000	260,000
9	Pakistan	152,000	356,000
14	Kazakhstan	145,000	234,000
15	Italy	130,000	212,000
19	Philippines	125,000	158,000
16	Australia	121,000	184,000
18	Canada	110,000	158,000
19	Japan	110,000	148,000

Attractions

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Aspects of Dubai's old culture, while occasionally overshadowed by the boom in economic development, can be found by visiting places around the creek, which splits Dubai into two halves, Bur Dubai and Deira. The buildings lining the Bur Dubai side of the Creek provide the main flavor of the old city. Heritage Village is one of the few remaining parts of historical Dubai, containing preserved buildings. The adjoining Diving Village offers exhibits on pearl diving and fishing. The Diving Village forms part of an ambitious plan to turn the entire "Shindagha" area into a cultural city, recreating life in Dubai as it was in days gone by.

Other attractions include the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House; the Dubai Museum in the restored Al Fahidi Fort, which was erected around 1799; and the Heritage Village of Hatta, situated 115 kilometers southeast of Dubai City in the heart of the rocky Hatta Mountains. The history of the village can be traced back 2000 – 3000 years. It consists of 30 buildings, each differing in size, interior layout and building materials used. Great care was taken to use the same materials as those used when originally built during the renovation such as mud, hay, sandalwood and palm fronds. The Sharia Mosque is an old mosque built in the early 19th century using the same building materials and consists of a large prayer hall, a court and courtyard, minaret and other utility rooms.^[34] Other museums include the Al Ahmadiya School.

Dubai has been nicknamed the "shopping capital of the Middle East."^[35][36] The city draws large numbers of shopping tourists from countries within the region and from as far as Eastern Europe, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. Dubai is known for its souk districts. Souk is the Arabic word for market or place where any kind of goods are brought or exchanged. Traditionally, dhows from the Far East, China, Sri Lanka, and India would discharge their cargo and the goods would be bargained over in the souks adjacent to the docks.^[37]

Modern shopping malls and boutiques are also found in the city. Dubai Duty Free at Dubai International Airport offers merchandise catering to the multinational passengers using Dubai International Airport. Outside of Duty Free areas and major sales, Dubai has a reputation for being one of the most expensive shopping destinations in the world.^[38]

While boutiques, some electronics shops, department stores and supermarkets may operate on a fixed-price basis, most other outlets consider friendly negotiation as a way of life.

Dubai's numerous shopping centres cater for every consumer's need. Cars, clothing, jewellery, electronics, furnishing, sporting equipment and any other goods will all be likely to be under the same roof.^[39]

The Dubai Shopping Festival is a month-long festival held during the month of January each year. During the festival the entire emirate becomes one massive shopping mall. Additionally, the festival brings together music shows, art exhibitions, and folk dances.^[40]

The Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) is the summer version of Dubai Shopping Festival held during June, July and August. Dubai Government launched Dubai Summer Surprises in 1998 in order to promote Dubai as a family holiday destination. DSS offers fun, entertainment, food deals and great offers on shopping.

Tourists are required to obey some Muslim religious restrictions in public even if they are not Muslim themselves, such as refraining from eating or drinking in public places in the daytime during Ramadan.^[41]

Dubai has a modest dress code as part of its criminal law.^[42] Sleeveless tops and short dresses are not encouraged at Dubai Mall.^[43][44] Clothes are advised to be in appropriate lengths.^[42]

Homosexuality is criminalized in Dubai, including for tourists. However, there is a vibrant underground gay scene in Dubai and authorities do not actively search for homosexuals to enforce the law.^[45]

Most capitals and other major cities have direct flights to Dubai. More than 120 airlines operate to and from Dubai International Airport to more than 260 destinations. Dubai International Airport is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic.^[46] Dubai is also the home base of the airline Emirates, which operates scheduled services to more than 100 destinations.

In June 2009 Emirates designated a special handling area at departures and arrivals for passengers with special needs, allowing wheelchair passengers to receive a more personalized service.^{[47][better source needed]}

The establishment of the first cruise terminal in Dubai in 2001 and the opening of the enhanced New Dubai Cruise Terminal in February 2010 with higher handling capacity has drawn the attention of cruise line operators. Cruises to Dubai sail from: Singapore, Sydney, Athens, Dover, Venice, Cape Town, Civitavecchia, Piraeus, Alexandria, Istanbul, New York City, Southampton, Barcelona, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Monte Carlo, Mombasa, Victoria, and Cairns among others.^{[48][better source needed]}

The United Arab Emirates has a network of roads that connect major towns and villages, including a multi-lane highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with access to and from the bordering countries of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Highways and main roads in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates are designated by an Emirate Route Number. Speed limits are displayed on road signs and are usually 60–80 km/h (37–50 mph) around town and 100–120 km/h (62–75 mph) elsewhere.^{[49][better source needed]}

Dubai ranked third in the best taxi services behind Tokyo and Singapore.^{[50][better source needed]}

Travelers entering Dubai are warned for harsh penalties regarding illicit drug use or smuggling. Authorities in Dubai use highly sensitive equipment to conduct thorough searches to find trace amount of illegal substances.^[51] A senior Dubai judge was quoted on February 11, 2008, by the Dubai City News saying, "These laws help discourage anyone from carrying or using drugs. Even if the quantity of illegal drugs found on someone is 0.05 grams, they will be found guilty. The penalty is a minimum of four years. The message is clear — drugs will not be tolerated."^[51]

No special immunizations are required, but tourists are encouraged to purchase appropriate medical insurance before travelling. Government immunization programs have led to recognition by a travel magazine.^[47] As a latest addition to the established modern health care system, Dubai offers online health care contacts of virtually all medical doctors in Dubai.^[52]

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Dubai hosts the following international championships:

• Dubai World Cup – the richest horse race in the world
• Dubai Classic - the golf championship
• Barclays Dubai Tennis for both men and women
• UIM World Powerboat racing
• Rugby Sevens
• Dubai International Rally
• Dubai Snooker Classic
• The UAE Desert Challenge
• The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dubai.

• Developments in Dubai
• List of development projects in Dubai
• List of tourist attractions in the United Arab Emirates
• Palm Islands

• Visit Dubai Official Instagram

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tourism in Dubai.

• Dubai travel guide from Wikivoyage