Hot air balloon Dubai luxury morning experience

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]

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]

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%

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]

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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

Arabian Desert ٱلصَّحْرَاء ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة
Desert near Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Map of the Arabian Desert ecoregion
Ecology
Realm	Palearctic
Biome	deserts and xeric shrublands
Borders	List Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert Mesopotamian shrub desert Middle East steppe North Saharan steppe and woodlands Persian Gulf desert and semi-desert Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh
Geography
Area	1,855,470[1] km2 (716,400 mi2)
Countries	List Saudi Arabia Iraq Jordan Kuwait Oman Qatar United Arab Emirates Iran (khuzestan) Yemen Egypt (Sinai)
Conservation
Conservation status	critical/endangered[2]
Protected	4.368%[1]

The Arabian Desert (Arabic: ٱلصَّحْرَاء ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة) is a vast desert wilderness in West Asia that occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 sq mi).^[3] It stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It is the fourth largest desert in the world and the largest in Asia. At its center is Ar-Rub' al-Khali (The Empty Quarter), one of the largest continuous bodies of sand in the world. It is an extension of the Sahara Desert.^[4]

Gazelles, oryx, sand cats, and spiny-tailed lizards are just some of the desert-adapted species that survive in this extreme environment, which features everything from red dunes to deadly quicksand. The climate is mostly dry (the major part receives around 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain per year, but some very rare places receive as little as 50 mm), and temperatures oscillate between very high heat and seasonal night time freezes. It is part of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome and lie in biogeographical realms of the Palearctic (northern part) and Afrotropical (southern part).

The Arabian Desert ecoregion has little biodiversity, although a few endemic plants grow here. Many species, such as the striped hyena, jackal and honey badger, have died out as a result of hunting, habitat destruction, overgrazing by livestock, off-road driving, and human encroachment on their habitat. Other species, such as the Arabian sand gazelle, have been successfully re-introduced and are protected at reserves.

The desert lies mostly in Saudi Arabia and covers most of the country. It extends into neighboring southern Iraq, southern Jordan, central Qatar, most of the Abu Dhabi emirate in the United Arab Emirates, western Oman, and northeastern Yemen. The ecoregion also includes most of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and the adjacent Negev desert in southern Israel.^[1]

The Rub' al-Khali desert is a sedimentary basin stretching along a south-west to north-east axis across the Arabian Shelf.^[5] At an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), rock landscapes yield to the Rub' al-Khali, a vast stretch of sand whose extreme southern point crosses the center of Yemen. The sand overlies gravel or gypsum plains and the dunes reach maximum heights of up to 250 m (820 ft). The sands are predominantly silicates, composed of 80 to 90% quartz and the remainder feldspar, whose iron oxide-coated grains color the sands orange, purple, and red.

A corridor of sandy terrain known as the Ad-Dahna desert connects the An-Nafud desert (65,000 km² or 40,389 square miles) in the north of Saudi Arabia to the Rub' al-Khali in the south-east.^{[citation needed]} The Tuwaiq escarpment is an 800 km (500 mi) arc that includes limestone cliffs, plateaus, and canyons.^{[citation needed]} There are brackish salt flats, including the quicksands of Umm al Samim.^[2] The Sharqiya Sands, formerly known as Wahiba Sands of Oman are an isolated sand sea bordering the east coast.^[6][7]

The Arabian Desert has a subtropical, hot desert climate, similar to the climate of the Sahara Desert (the world's largest hot desert). The Arabian Desert is actually an extension of the Sahara Desert over the Arabian peninsula.

The climate is mainly dry. Most areas get around 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain per year. Unlike the Sahara Desert—more than half of which is hyperarid (having rainfall of less than 50 mm (2.0 in) per year)—the Arabian Desert has only a few hyperarid areas. These rare driest areas may get only 30 to 40 mm (1.6 in) of rain per year.

The Arabian Desert’s sunshine duration index is very high by global standards: between 2,900 hours (66.2% of daylight hours) and 3,600 hours (82.1% of daylight hours), but typically around 3,400 hours (77.6% of daylight hours). Thus clear-sky conditions with plenty of sunshine prevail over the region throughout the year, and cloudy periods are infrequent. Visibility at ground level is relatively low, despite the brightness of the sun and moon, because of dust and humidity.

Temperatures remain high year round. In the summer, in low-lying areas, average high temperatures are generally over 40 °C (104 °F). In extremely low-lying areas, especially along the Persian Gulf (near sea level), summer temperatures can reach 48 °C (118 °F). Average low temperatures in summer are typically over 20 °C (68 °F) and in the south can sometimes exceed 30 °C (86 °F). Record high temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F) have been reached in many areas of the desert, partly because its overall elevation is relatively low. ^{[citation needed]}

The Arabian Desert ecoregion has about 900 species of plants.^[8] The Rub'al-Khali has very limited floristic diversity. There are only 37 plant species, 20 recorded in the main body of the sands and 17 around the outer margins. Of these 37 species, one or two are endemic. Vegetation is very diffuse but fairly evenly distributed, with some interruptions of near sterile dunes.^[2] Some typical plants are Calligonum crinitum on dune slopes, Cornulaca arabica (saltbush), Salsola stocksii (saltbush), and Cyperus conglomeratus. Other widespread species are Dipterygium glaucum, Limeum arabicum, and Zygophyllum mandavillei. Very few trees are found except at the outer margin (typically Acacia ehrenbergiana and Prosopis cineraria). Other species are a woody perennial Calligonum comosum, and annual herbs such as Danthonia forskallii.^[2]

There are 102 native species of mammals.^[8] Native mammals include the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), sand gazelle (Gazella marica), mountain gazelle (G. gazella), Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana), Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs), striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena), caracal (Caracal caracal), sand cat (Felis margarita), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and Cape hare (Lepus capensis).^[2] The Asiatic cheetah^[9] and Asiatic lion^[10] used to live in the Arabian Desert. The ecoregion is home to 310 bird species.^[8]

The area is home to several different cultures, languages, and peoples, with Islam as the predominant faith. The major ethnic group in the region is the Arabs, whose primary language is Arabic.

In the center of the desert lies Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, with more than 7 million inhabitants.^[11] Other large cities, such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Kuwait City, lie on the coast of the Persian Gulf.

Natural resources available in the Arabian Desert include oil, natural gas, phosphates, and sulfur.^{[citation needed]}

Threats to the ecoregion include overgrazing by livestock and feral camels and goats, wildlife poaching, and damage to vegetation by off-road driving.^[2]

The conservation status of the desert is critical/endangered. In the UAE, the sand gazelle and Arabian oryx are threatened, and honey badgers, jackals, and striped hyaenas already extirpated.^[2]

4.37% of the ecoregion is in protected areas.^[1]

Saudi Arabia has established a system of reserves overseen by the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD).^[2]

• Harrat al-Harrah Reserve (12,150 km²), established in 1987, is on the border with Jordan and Iraq, and protects a portion of the stony basaltic Harrat al-Sham desert. The reserve includes rough terrain of black basaltic boulders and extinct volcanic cones from the middle Miocene. It provides habitat to over 250 species of plants, 50 species of birds, and 22 mammal species.^[2]
• 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid Reserve (12,000 km²) is on the western edge of the Rub’ al-Khali. Arabian oryx and sand gazelle were reintroduced to the reserve in 1995.
• Ibex Reserve (200 km²) is south of Riyadh. It protects Nubian ibex and a reintroduced population of mountain gazelle.^[2]
• Al-Tabayq Special Nature Reserve is in northern Saudi Arabia, and protects a population of Nubian ibex.^[2]

Protected areas in the United Arab Emirates include Al Houbara Protected Area (2492.0 km²), Al Ghadha Protected Area (1087.51 km²), Arabian Oryx Protected Area (5974.47 km²), Ramlah Protected Area (544.44 km²), and Al Beda'a Protected Area (417.0 km²).^[12]

• ʿĀd
• Iram of the Pillars

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arabian Desert.

• "Arabian Desert". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
• Arabian Desert (DOPA)
• [2]^{[permanent dead link]}