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Dubai remains the world’s top destination for tourists, with international visitor spending estimated to reach $29.4 billion this year, according to a new report.
Visitor spending in Dubai will be this year's highest among city destinations, followed by Doha, with $16.8 billion in spending by non-residents and London, which will end the year with $16.1 billion in receipts from international travellers, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said in its Cities Economic Impact report.
In terms of size, the French capital of Paris will be this year’s largest travel and tourism economy, valued at $35.7 billion. China’s Beijing will come second at $32.6 billion, followed by Orlando in the United States ($31.1 billion).
Exceeding pre-pandemic levels
According to the report, ten of the 82 city destinations analysed will exceed their pre-pandemic performance this year.
In terms of international traveller spend and travel and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP, Qatar’s Doha will see the largest growth of 21% from 2019 to 2022, making the Gulf state the top performer this year.
The second top performer will be Warsaw’s Poland, which is expected to record a significant 14% increase.
Over the next ten years, travel and tourism will become a key driver of economic growth, with faster GDP growth than other sectors, generating 126 million new jobs worldwide.
By 2031, 8% of all jobs in 82 cities will be generated by the travel and tourism sector, up from 6.6% in 2019 and 5.1% in 2020.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
