Dubai in global top 10 for international tourists

Dubai has been ranked eighth globally in terms of the number of international tourists expected to visit the city in 2012.

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MasterCard Worldwide's annual Global Destination Cities Index said the number of people travelling abroad continues to increase around the world despite a challenging economic environment.

Dubai was the top ranked city in the Middle East and outranked cities such as New York, Amsterdam, Rome and Beijing.

Abu Dhabi also emerged as the world’s fourth fastest growing destination city by visitor numbers, the index said.

The index said Dubai will attract 8.8 million visitors. Globally, the list was topped by London (16.9 million visitors), followed by Paris.

The index also placed Dubai 18th in a list ranked by visitor spend. It said a total of $8.8bn will be spent by tourists in Dubai, up 18.5 percent compared to the previous year.

London also topped this index for the second year running, with international visitor spend at $21.1bn, just ahead of New York at $19.4bn.

In the Middle East, Cairo (3.3 million) was second to Dubai in terms of international visitor numbers, with Abu Dhabi third (2.7 million). Riyadh also came in seventh with 1.9 million visitors.

In terms of visitor spend, Beirut was second to Dubai followed by Tel Aviv. Abu Dhabi was sixth with $2.9bn.

According to the index, overall international visitor numbers are projected to increase by a steady 5.7 percent and spend by 10.6 percent respectively for the top 20 ranked cities in the report.

Ann Cairns, president of International Markets, MasterCard Worldwide, said: "This index paints a picture of an ever more interconnected world where electronic transactions play a critical role in enabling global commerce.

"When we look at the way international travellers are spending, it is clear that cash is not satisfying the growing demand for safe, simple and smart payments."

Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, global economic advisor for MasterCard Worldwide and author of the report, added: "In spite of a challenging global economic backdrop, this year’s index projects that there are hotspots of robust growth around the globe, in terms of both international visitor arrivals and expenditure.

"With a new generation of international travellers from emerging markets flocking to the world’s top destinations, global cities continue to represent an important engine of growth."

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities.

The regional outlook for the Middle East and Africa is equally bright, with visitor numbers for the top ten cities set to grow by 7.2 percent, total international spending predicted to rise by 10.4 percent and average spend per visit set to grow by three percent.

Abu Dhabi will be the fastest growing in terms of spend, according to the report, up 20.7 percent this year.