A strong and dynamic tourism sector has placed Dubai among the top 10 most visited cities in the world, a Dubai Chamber study said. Dubai, the Middle East tourism and trade hub, is ranked higher than its regional peers and a little behind its global competitors in terms of travel and tourism competitiveness.

In the World Bank’s Travel and Tourism competitiveness score 2008, UAE ranked 33rd among 133 countries accessed, much ahead of neighboring countries like Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt etc. Key global competitors like Switzerland, Singapore and Sweden, however, were placed much higher.

The tourism sector can be differentiated into number of market segments. The most basic differentiation is based on the motive for travel-business or leisure. Among the leisure tourists, there can be further differentiation among friends and families of large expatriate population in Dubai, the regional tourists from neighboring countries who travel to Dubai for shopping and entertainment and the tourists from different parts of the world who visit Dubai for its unique mix of shopping, sun and entertainment. According to a survey conducted by Dubai department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), about two thirds of the visitors in Dubai are leisure tourists and one third is business travellers.

The tourism sector comprises of an array of essential activities ranging from hotels and restaurants, food and catering, tourism activities including resorts, adventure sports etc. The cluster for the sector comprises of many core activities that are supported by the linked sectors and market segments as also by related institutional bodies to complete the chain of activities in the tourism sector.

Among the core activities are the transportation activities led by airlines industry in Dubai, hotels and restaurants serving the tourists, shopping destinations attracting tourists to Dubai, entertainment destinations like the resorts, adventure sporting hubs etc and the tour operators active in Dubai and globally.