Most popular outbound destinations for UAE residents are…

We all know that the UAE residents are shopaholic and globe-trotting tourists as well. But – more interestingly – where they travel to and what are their favourite destinations? Though many travel as tourists, but majority of them – being expatriates – fly to their homeland frequently.

A global online travel site has revealed the list of top 20 most popular outbound destinations from the UAE, with Cairo taking the lead over other international cities, followed by Amman and Beirut.

The list has been released by Expedia based on the bookings examining outbound passenger data from the UAE.

 “In terms of international destinations, London is ranked in fourth place, illustrating its enduring popularity within the Middle East, ahead of New York in ninth place and Paris ranked at 15,” said Eman Barhoumeh, Expedia’s Director of E-Commerce.

Among the other top 20 cities are, London,  Istanbul, Bangkok, Doha, Manila, New York, Toronto, Manama, Muscat, Jeddah, Colombo, Paris, Male, Riyadh, Mumbai, Kuwait City and Washington DC .

“Cairo experienced the most substantial growth with over a 70 per cent increase in bookings in 2014 in comparison to 2013, closely followed by Riyadh. We also witnessed a sizable increase in flights to Colombo with over 55 per cent, followed by Beirut and Kuwait City at 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively,” said Eman Barhoumeh, Expedia’s Director of E-Commerce.

Based on bookings and year-on-year comparisons, Expedia predicts that Cairo, Beirut and Amman will be the top outbound travel destinations for June and July 2015.

New York and London are expected to each move up in the ranking to fourth and fifth places, respectively. Other popular destinations included Toronto, Washington DC, Atlanta, Paris and Bangkok.

Earlier this month, Expedia released data showing people from London and Manchester book more flights to the UAE than residents of other cities around the world.

After the two UK cities, most of the flight bookings to the UAE were made by the residents of Manama, Paris, Milan, Kuwait City, Doha, Riyadh, Cairo and New York City, according to figures released by Expedia.com.

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