The UAE’s tourism hub has grown by 127% to over 66 million visitors by 2022. With the war in Ukraine, the number of Russians visiting the destination has also more than doubled to 1.9 million last year.
Dubai Airport is back to attracting passengers en masse in 2020. There were over 66 million visitors, 127% more than in 2021.
Admittedly, this is not yet the level of 2019 – over 86 million travellers – but the nightmare of the covid is well and truly behind us. The return of these tourists, businessmen and women, and other transit travellers is restoring Dubai’s status as one of the world’s most important hubs.
In March 2020, due to the Covid-19, Dubai closed its airport. It reopened very quickly in July. Nevertheless, Dubai’s traffic dropped drastically by 70% to 25.9 million passengers in 2020.
The Russian rush
In 2022, the majority of visitors passing through Dubai still came from India, Saudi Arabia and the UK. But Russians, spurred on by Western sanctions, have also flocked to the wealthy Emirate, where they are still persona grata.
Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airport, told AFP that about 1.9 million Russian travellers had been registered in Dubai, “more than double” the number in 2021. “Huge growth” that has been boosted since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Hit by Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, Russians have been more than ever keen on Dubai’s dolce vita, its malls with giant attractions, its beaches and artificial islands, its restaurants and nightclubs that flout Muslim rigour.
Many Russians, who already loved the destination, have moved there even though their yachts and luxury villas are no longer available to them in the West.
Air travel and tourism are central to Dubai’s economy. Its oil reserves are indeed limited compared to those of its neighbours…
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