India, Thailand, Denmark, Brazil… Why your UAE tops all these countries

The UAE is the most tourist-friendly country in the region and 24th globally – thanks to its sustainable travel and tourism development, safety and security, air transport infrastructure and effective marketing to attract tourists.

The World Economic Forum’s 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index said in its biennial report that though the UAE does not have rich natural resources, it has built a unique environment to attract both business and leisure travelers.

The UAE was rated more attractive than some of the major tourist attracting countries from the around globe including Malaysia, Thailand, India, Luxembourg, Denmark, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Seychelles and others.

Earlier this week, the Global Travel Intentions Study 2015 carried out by Visa ranked the UAE as the most popular destination for travellers from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and among the top destination choices for global travellers.

“From Expo 2020 Dubai to the construction of the Louvre and Guggenheim, the UAE is investing in and giving significant importance to the development of the travel and tourism industry. This is supported by its world-renowned air transport infrastructure (3rd) and positioning as a gateway for Europeans to Africa, the Middle East and Asia,” it said.

“It has created extremely effective branding campaigns (1st) and an enabling business environment for the industry’s development, with strides in travel facilitation and the liberalization of its visa regime (30th).

"The country has a safe and secure environment, but improvements could be made in terms of health and hygiene services (69th), and some aspects of price competitiveness should be monitored as the cost of living is growing (103rd),” WEF report said.

The emirate of Dubai attracts a major chunk of tourist arrivals in to the UAE every year. According to the Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai welcomed a total of 13.2 million international overnight visitors in 2014 and the emirate is on track to realise 20 million visitors by the start of the next decade.

Unaffected by the political unrest in the other parts of the Middle East, the UAE also benefited from its status as a “safe” destination.

The UAE got the best rating (#1) in effectiveness of marketing to attract tourists, mobile network coverage, government prioritization of travel and tourism industry, profit tax rate, sustainability of travel and tourism development, quality of roads and presence of major car rental companies.

The World Economic Forum study estimated that the absolute value of travel and tourism industry in 2014 was $15.38 billion, making up four per cent of the country’s GDP and expected to grow around 3.1 per cent.

The country’s travel and tourism industry in 2014 employed around 5.3 per cent or 291,000 people of total population. WEF forecast 1.8 per cent job growth in travel and tourism industry.

According to Business Monitor International forecast, the UAE tourism industry will grow 7.6 per cent year-on-year in tourist arrivals and 9.3 per cent increase in tourism receipts. It foresees total tourism receipts crossing $20 billion this year while inbound and outbound travelers are expected to reach 16.47 million and 2.64 million –respectively.

World Economic Forum study showed that the UAE was followed by Qatar (43rd), Bahrain (60th), Morocco (62nd) and Saudi Arabia (64th).

Most of the economies in this region are price-competitive destinations and several have built significant travel and tourism industries in recent years, the World Economic Forum said.

Globally, Spain topped the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index for the first time – helped by its cultural resources (1st globally), its ability to support online searches for entertainment (4th) – a measure of how well the country has adapted to consumption habits brought on by the digital revolution – as well as excellent infrastructure (4th).

France, Germany, US, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada completed the top 10 list.

Of the large emerging markets, China (17th) and Brazil (28th) made it into the top 30, whereas Russia, South Africa and India ranked 45th, 48th and 52nd, respectively.

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