Dubai top hotspot for Indians to celebrate ‘Holi’
Dubai has topped as a favourite destination for Indians to celebrate Holi this year.
The fun-filled festival of colours falls on this Thursday (March 24), just before Good Friday and the weekend, giving travellers a few days to make a short haul trip.
Based on the actual booking made by passengers, a report by travel website MakeMyTrip.com shows that popular tourist hub Dubai stood as the No. 1 destination for Indian travellers for this weekend.
This was followed by Thailand and Singapore. The short travel time from India makes these destinations extremely popular, the portal said.
Besides the top three countries, destinations like Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bali, Hong Kong, Macau, Mauritius and Maldives are also popular due to the 3-5 hour flying time.
Not just Indians – the world wants to come to Dubai
It isn’t just the Indians flocking to Dubai. A previous MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index put Dubai as one of the hotspots and it continues to climb the ranks as one of the top destinations for international travellers.
The MasterCard rankings highlight how the city has consistently notched up its position as a travel destination. Ranked at number 8 in 2012, when the index was launched, it climbed to the 7th slot in 2013, 5th in 2014 and 4th last year, proving the growing popularity of the city.
Within the Middle East and Africa region (MEA), Dubai ranks as the top destination for international overnight visitors.
According to figures released by the emirate’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai attracted over 14.2 million overnight visitors in 2015, a 7.5 per cent increase over 2014. This figure makes Dubai the fourth most visited city in the world last year.
The GCC delivered the highest share of visitor volumes for 2015, with a total of 3.3 million, up 12.8 per cent over the previous year, with Saudi Arabia remaining the largest source market.
Dubai’s tourism vision for 2020 includes welcoming 20 million visitors per year by that year.