Dubai has become the seventh most popular city globally in terms of inbound international visitors, outranking destinations such as Hong Kong, Barcelona, Rome and Milan, a report said today. According to the third annual MasterCard Global Destination Cities 2013 Index, Dubai has improved upon its last year's eighth ranking and climbed a notch higher. At 10.9 per cent, the Gulf city registered the strongest growth in arrival numbers among the top ten global markets.

Dubai has become the seventh most popular city globally in terms of inbound international visitors, outranking destinations such as Hong Kong, Barcelona, Rome and Milan, a report said today. According to the third annual MasterCard Global Destination Cities 2013 Index, Dubai has improved upon its last year's eighth ranking and climbed a notch higher. At 10.9 per cent, the Gulf city registered the strongest growth in arrival numbers among the top ten global markets. It shared the feat with this year's number one city of Bangkok.

Jumeirah Group, the global luxury hospitality company and a member of Dubai Holding, has announced its performance in the first quarter of 2013 and its mid-term growth strategy. During the first quarter of 2013, average occupancy in Jumeirah’s portfolio of hotels has increased by nine per cent globally, compared to the same period in 2012.

Benefiting from its perception as a safe haven in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring, Dubai enjoyed a strong rise in tourist arrivals in 2011. Official figures released this week showed that Dubai hosted 9.3 million hotel guests and cruise passengers in 2011, a rise of 10 per cent compared with the previous year's total. Out of this, 7,262,730 guests stayed with hotels, up from 6,561,999 recorded in 2010.

India sustained its ranking as the second-largest international source market for Abu Dhabi's hotels after the UK, a new data has revealed. Hotel guests from India to the UAE capital registered 45 per cent rise to 10,924, delivering 37,559 guest nights, which was up 17 per cent month-on-month, according to the latest figures released by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority.