Travelport report places Dubai as top destination for global business travel this year. Photo Credit: gettyimages/Diamond Dogs
Dubai has outpaced London as the top destination for global business
travel this year, as the United Arab Emirates has seen the strongest
travel recovery of any country in the world, according to data published
by Travelport.
Year-to-date bookings to Dubai so far this year are outpacing 2019
levels by 14 percent, according to Travelport. That ranks it fifth in
the world in terms of recovery for individual destinations, with such
leisure-focused destinations as Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Montego
Bay, Jamaica; and Cancún, Mexico, topping the list.
For Dubai, however, corporate travel has made up nearly a third of
total bookings this year, Travelport reported. Dubai's high vaccination
rate as well as major events including Expo 2020 Dubai and the Dubai
World Cup have contributed to the recovery, according to Travelport.
One other destination in the Middle East also has recovered at an
even greater rate than Dubai: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where bookings so
far this year have outpaced 2019 levels by 15 percent.
Bookings in the UAE as a whole, however, are up 10 percent from 2019
levels, higher than any other country in the world, according to
Travelport.
On a global scale, bookings have recovered to about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, Travelport indicated.
Source: Business Travel News