Indians top list of nationalities visiting Dubai

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTM) has revealed that between January-September this year, Indians topped the list of nationalities visiting Dubai.

There were 1.469 million Indian visitors who arrived in Dubai in the first nine months of 2018.

The UAE now grants visas on arrival to Indians who are US green card holders or those who have US visas on their passports.The on-arrival visa are valid for a period of 14 days, which can be renewed for a similar period for the same cost.The only condition is that the passport and well as the US visa or green card must be valid for at least for six months.

DCTM also revealed insights into the other nationalities that made it to the list of the top 10 visiting nationalities to Dubai during that period.

The number of Russian tourists jumped 60 per cent to 460,000 from 280,000 during the corresponding period last year. Still, they landed the seventh position on the list, just after the United States of America.

The number of Chinese tourists increased 12 per cent from 573,000 to 641,000 while that of German tourists rose by 15 per cent year-on-year.

While Chinese visitors began receiving a visa on arrival in Dubai in 2016, Russian tourists started receiving the same benefit last year resulting in a dramatic spike in visitors from that country.

After Indians, visitors from Saudi Arabia were the second highest visiting nationality to Dubai with 1.225 million visitors from the UAE’s neighbour.

There were two other GCC countries that made it to the list: Oman at fifth position and Kuwait at tenth.

The UK ranked third on the list with 866,000 visitors.

Here is the list of the top 10 visiting nationalities to Dubai between January-September 2018:

1. India

2. Saudi Arabia

3. United Kingdom

4. China

5. Oman

6. United States of America

7. Russia

8. Germany

9. Pakistan

10. Kuwait