Dubai aims to become the top-ranked city not just for tourism, but to live in, a senior official said on Thursday.

“We always aim to be number one at everything we do, and we will not stop until we achieve that number,” Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said while delivering a welcome address at the Dubai Accessible Travel and Tourism International Summit held at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

“Since November 2021, the Department of Tourism has been merged with the Department of Economy to form one bigger department with a much bigger mandate. So today, we not only want to become the best city to visit and repeat this, but also the number one city to live in,” he said.

Dubai received 16.73 million tourists during the pre-Covid year, making it the fourth most visited city in the world. In April 2022, Dubai's population surpassed 3.5 million for the first time as professionals, high-net-worth individuals and job-seekers flocked to the city, attracted by its successful handling of the pandemic.

“We have set a target for ourselves as everyone revised their goals post-Covid-19. We revised the target upward to 25 million tourists by 2025. By working closely with partners from private and public sectors, we will be to achieve it, he said, adding that there is a need to focus a lot more on making sure that Dubai becomes accessible to all.

As part of the government’s vision, the Dubai Tourism chief said the emirate is accessible to everyone to come, visit and live in.

“We also managed to achieve, over the past few years, amazing goals with our partners from airlines, airports, hotels and government entities to ensure that accessibility becomes easier and more available across the city.”

He pointed out that the Dubai College of Tourism, launched by the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, is training and developing people within the ecosystem to make Dubai the number one destination for all, including people of determination.

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