Safe, popular tourist spot and expats’ first choice, here’s why Dubai is special

According to the latest data published by the Dubai Economy and Tourism Department (DET), Dubai welcomed over six million international visitors between January and November 2021, which surpasses the 5.5 million tourists who visited Dubai for the entire 2020. During this 11-month period, 743 hotel establishments with over 136,000 rooms also opened their doors to guests, delivering strong occupancy levels of over 60 per cent, which is among the highest occupancy rates internationally.

Expo 2020 Dubai has also made a major contribution towards creating awareness of Dubai and drawing more visitors to the city. Since opening on October 1, 2020, Expo 2020 has attracted over 10 million visits by residents and global travellers.

Here’s a look at some of the main surveys that featured Dubai among the top spots in the world.

Dubai has beaten popular holiday destinations such as London, Bali and Rome to become the most popular destination for 2022.

In a list released by Tripadvisor, Dubai has taken the top spot, and is followed by London (UK), Cancun (Mexico), Bali (Indonesia) and Crete (Greece).

“Dubai is a destination that mixes modern culture with history, adventure with world-class shopping and entertainment,” Tripadvisor said.

“Catch a show at the Dubai Opera, see downtown from atop the Burj Khalifa and spend an afternoon along Dubai Creek exploring the gold, textile and spice souks. If you’re looking for thrills, you can float above the desert dunes in a hot air balloon, climb aboard a high-speed ride at IMG Worlds of Adventure or skydive over the Palm Jumeirah,” it added. 

Rome (Italy), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Istanbul (Turkey), Paris (France) and Hurghada (Egypt) completed the top 10 of the ‘Travelers’ Choice 2022: Popular Destinations – World’ list. 

Dubai has been ranked among the world’s top ‘healthy lifestyle cities’ in a new report by UK-based Lenstore. ‘Healthy Lifestyle Cities Report 2022’ studied 44 global cities across 10 metrics ranging from pollution levels to sunshine hours, and even the average cost of a gym membership. 

Dubai placed second (after Vienna), thanks in part to its “staggering 3,509 hours of sunshine per year… The city isn’t just perfect for those in need of some Vitamin D and want to relax, with the city having almost 2,000 (1,889) outdoor activities for active-lovers.” The top ten ranks included Copenhagen in third place, followed by Frankfurt in fourth, Amsterdam in fifth, Helsinki in sixth, Berlin in seventh, and Stockholm, Fukuoka and Geneva in the eighth, ninth and tenth places, respectively.

Dubai once again has lived up to its expectation of being one of the topmost safe countries for solo female travellers.

According to the survey by InsureMyTrip, Dubai ranked third in the overall safety list for female travellers. The emirate categorised 8.64 out of 10 in the Feeling Safe Despite Gender; 9.43 in Feeling Safe Walking Alone At Night and 9.04 in Overall Safety.

The achievement has only been possible with the wise leadership of the UAE leaders and the Dubai Police handling every aspect of life and safety.

InsureMyTrip found in the survey that many travellers enjoy traveling with friends or family, there are a number of travellers who prefer to go solo. According to research by Condor Ferries, 84% of solo travellers are female.

Dubai has been ranked third worldwide in the InterNations Expat City Ranking 2021, beating major cities such as Sydney, Prague and Madrid. The Expat City Ranking is based on the annual Expat Insider survey by InterNations, which is one of the most extensive surveys about living and working abroad.

It is hailed for being easy to navigate without speaking the local language, for its friendly local population, and for how easy it is to feel at home here – not that we’re surprised.

The survey offers in-depth information about five areas of expat life: quality of urban living, getting settled, urban work-life balance, finance and house, and local cost of living. The first four topics make up the Expat City Ranking, which reveals the best and worst cities for expats to live in.

Nakheel’s master development Palm Jumeirah has been named the World’s Leading Tourism Development Project at the World Travel Awards.

Apart from that, three new attractions from the man-made island were also crowned at the annual event. The View at The Palm, the 360-degree observation deck at the top of the Palm Tower, was named Middle East’s Leading New Tourist Attraction. The Palm West Beach, a seafront leisure and dining attraction, won crowned Dubai’s Leading Beach Destination. The St Regis the Palm, Dubai, won the award for World’s Leading New Hotel.

Dubai’s distinctive palm-shaped island is beautiful to observe from an aircraft, or while sky-diving, or just driving around. This engineering marvel exemplifies Dubai’s commitment to continuous improvement and realization of goals. The area features an urban mix of island houses, opulent five-star resorts, hip eateries, and trendy beach clubs.

Dubai Marina was voted the most Instagrammable superyacht marina by comparethemarket.com recently, based on Instagram data. Taking the crown, the area is known for being a picturesque spot of skyscrapers, blue waters, and swanky restaurants, and it’s no surprise that Dubai Marina received over 3.9m posts on Instagram. In second place is the stunning Marina Del Rey (USA), followed by Marina di Porto Cervo (Italy).

Dubai’s iconic hotel Burj Al Arab is placed third (32.6), according to YouGov’s latest survey. “Last year, for the first time, the hotel opened its doors to non-guests (residents and tourists) to discover its most prestigious and inaccessible spaces, which might have helped the brand create a stronger positive impression among the people in UAE,” said the report.

Luxury resort Atlantis, the Palm came fourth (+28.7), followed by other five-star properties Hilton (+25.9), Jumeirah (+25.6), and Emirates Palace (+24.6) in fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively. Luxury hospitality brands Marriott and Rotana also featured in eighth (+23.6) and ninth place (+23.3), completing the top 10 list in UAE.

Dubai-based Emirates airline has topped YouGov’s Travel and Tourism Rankings 2022 in UAE, receiving the highest impression score of 63.3 among the residents in the country.

Last year, during the summer months when many destinations eased their travel restrictions, Emirates responded to the strong travel demands by ramping up its route to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic coverage, the research firm noted.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways came in second place with an impression score of 40.5, while Qatar Airways took the tenth (22.1) place in the rankings.

YouGov also revealed the top five brands that made the largest improvement to their Impression scores over the past 12 months. Middle East’s low-cost carriers, flydubai and Air Arabia as well as Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways also featured as the most improved brands of the past year, securing the second, third and fifth place, respectively.

Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah were rated among the top 10 safest cities globally in a report released by data services provider Numbeo.

The Numbeo Safety Index is a crowd-sourced list that ranks 459 cities using user feedback on questions related to cost of living, safety, pollution and crime.

Abu Dhabi has ranked as the safest city in the world – around the globe – for the fourth year in a row. Abu Dhabi scored the highest with a score of 88.14. Dubai has also been recognised as the seventh safe city in the world, out of 376 other cities, according to the study.