The emirate has recorded a 38% growth in online searches since the beginning of January 2022

Wego: Continuing global demand for Dubai as a preferred tourist destination

Mamoun Humaidan: "We expect 2022 to witness further recovery of the tourism sector."

Mamoun Humaidan, head of commercial operations and general manager for the Middle East, North Africa and India at Wego, which specializes in travel services and online reservations, said that "the global demand for Dubai as a preferred tourist destination, is still continuing this year," noting that the emirate It occupies advanced positions in the global rankings with a growth rate of 38%, during the period from January 1 to 19, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.

COVID-19 pandemic

Humaidan added, to "Emirates Today", that "travelers are looking for more vacations in 2022, but in countries witnessing control of the (Covid-19) pandemic, and they are also looking for new experiences and exploring places they have not visited before, to compensate for ( Lost travel) in the past two years, due to the pandemic.

He continued, "Through our website, we have noticed a demand for flights from abroad to the UAE, especially with the precautionary measures that are still followed in the country, in addition to the high vaccination rate among residents, which makes the travel experience in the country among the best in the world."

He stressed that the evidence for this is the fact that the UAE has recently attracted tourists and celebrities from different countries of the world, who have chosen the UAE to spend their vacations.

Searches

Humaidan revealed that the searches on Wego's website on flights since the beginning of this January from abroad to the UAE amounted to about 729,000 searches, noting that the most prominent countries that topped the searches to the UAE were: Saudi Arabia, with 25%, Then India with 15%, Egypt 10%, Jordan 4%, as well as other markets.

He said, "The period of stay of visitors to the UAE market is about six days," noting that individuals topped the list of searches by 51%, then spouses by 29%, and families by 20%.

Humaidan stated that "with the possibility of discovering vaccines against the new mutations of the (Corona) virus, this helps to restore confidence to the traveler," expecting that the year 2022 will witness more recovery for the tourism sector.

6 million tourists

It is noteworthy that data from the Department of Economy and Tourism in Dubai showed that the emirate received 6.02 million international tourists, during the period between January and November 2021, at a time when the total number of hotel rooms in Dubai increased by the end of November 2021 to 136 thousand and 30 hotel rooms, among 743 establishments. hotelier.

Data from the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority showed that the total number of passengers, through Dubai International Airport during 2021, reached 29,110,609 passengers, compared to about 25.9 million passengers during 2020, a growth of 12.3%.

According to data obtained by Emirates Today, the total number of international passengers who used the airport during December 2021 reached 4,492,762 passengers, compared to 3,879,375 passengers in November 2021, with a growth rate of 15.8%.

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