Part of EPR’s Tourism PR hub · Related: VisitBritain · Brand USA · Tourism Australia
Originally published June 2026. Updated October 20, 2026 with Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism data through August 2026.
Visit Dubai is the consumer-facing tourism brand of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), run by the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) under CEO Issam Kazim. It marketed Dubai to a record 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, then faced a sharp 2026 downturn: 6.97 million visitors in January to August, after regional conflict disrupted Gulf aviation.
What is Visit Dubai and who runs it?
Visit Dubai is the public face of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), which sits inside the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). Issam Kazim is CEO of DCTCM. Helal Saeed Almarri is Director General of DET.
DET says its year-round market strategy runs with domestic stakeholders and more than 3,000 international partners. The mandate is tied to the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33, whose stated goals include doubling the emirate’s economy by 2033 and ranking Dubai among the world’s top three tourism hubs.
DET also operates Dubai Business Events (the convention bureau, which reported 504 successful bids in 2025 for events through 2029) and Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, which runs the Dubai Shopping Festival, Dubai Summer Surprises and the Dubai Fitness Challenge.
How many visitors does Dubai get?
Dubai recorded 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025, its third consecutive record year, according to DET. The table shows the official figures as published.
| Period | International overnight visitors | Change |
|---|
| 2023 | 17.15 million | Record at the time |
| 2024 | 18.72 million | +9% on 2023 |
| January to June 2025 | 9.88 million | +6% on H1 2024 |
| 2025 | 19.59 million | +5% on 2024 |
| January to August 2026 | 6.97 million | Below the 9.88 million of H1 2025 alone |
| August 2026 | About 869,000 | Strongest month since February 2026 |
In 2025 Dubai’s hotel inventory reached 154,264 rooms across 827 establishments. Average occupancy was 80.7%, the average daily rate was AED 579, and hotels sold 44.85 million room nights, per DET.
What happened to Dubai tourism in 2026?
Dubai’s 2026 visitor numbers fell sharply after a regional escalation on February 28 disrupted Gulf air travel, then began recovering from March. January 2026 had been about 2 million visitors, up 3% on January 2025. Hotel occupancy dropped to 36% in March, according to DET.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) handled 31.5 million passengers in the first half of 2026, 31.3% fewer than in the first half of 2025, according to Dubai Airports. Monthly traffic rose from 3.5 million in April to 4.5 million in May and 5 million in June.
By August, DET reported about 869,000 international overnight visitors, double-digit monthly growth since March, and hotel occupancy of 66%, or 89% of the August 2025 level. Emirates had restored 97% of its global network. The Dubai government also introduced an AED 2.5 billion support package for the tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors.
Visit Dubai’s response was a trade and resident programme as much as a consumer one. DET hosted more than 300 travel trade professionals from over 40 countries at Arabian Travel Market (September 14 to 17), ran roadshows, and launched “A Dubai Invite,” which asked residents to invite overseas family and friends. More than 90,000 residents applied for its benefits. Aviation trade press also reported that Emirates launched a Dubai-focused winter campaign aimed at traveller confidence in late September.
Which campaigns has Visit Dubai run?
Visit Dubai has run celebrity-led, audience-specific campaigns since 2016, from “Be My Guest” to the 2025 “Find Your Story.” Kazim has said each campaign is chosen to resonate with a particular audience.
| Campaign | When | What it did |
|---|
| #BeMyGuest | Launched December 2016; later editions 2018 and 2019 | Shah Rukh Khan fronted a series aimed in part at the Indian market. Dubai Tourism said the 2017 sequel passed 100 million views. |
| Dubai Presents | August 2021 | Zac Efron and Jessica Alba in six genre trailers directed by Craig Gillespie, rolled out across 27 markets in more than 15 languages ahead of Expo 2020. |
| Find Your Story | 2025 | Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi. |
| Dubai. That’s How You Summer | 2025 | Seasonal summer campaign. |
| Dubai, Ready for a Surprise? | 2025 | Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma. |
| Beautiful Destinations Academy | April 2025 | Creator-community training programme launched with Beautiful Destinations. |
| A Dubai Invite | 2026 | Resident-led invitations to overseas friends and family. |
Earlier work paired Dubai Tourism with Gwyneth Paltrow, Zoe Saldana and Kate Hudson, and an African-market campaign, as Kazim described to Gulf News in 2021. Expo 2020 Dubai, which ran from October 2021 to March 2022, recorded 24,102,967 visits according to its organisers.
Where do Dubai’s visitors come from?
Western Europe is Dubai’s largest source region. In 2025 it sent 4.1 million visitors (21%), followed by the GCC (2.99 million, 15%), CIS and Eastern Europe (2.89 million, 15%), South Asia (2.89 million, 15%), MENA (2.17 million, 11%), North East and South East Asia (1.85 million, 9%), the Americas (1.40 million, 7%), Africa (897,000, 5%) and Australasia (401,000, 2%).
From January to August 2026, Western Europe stayed first at 20%, with South Asia at 17%, the GCC at 16% and CIS and Eastern Europe at 14%.
How are Emirates and DXB tied to Visit Dubai?
Dubai’s tourism model depends on aviation, because Emirates and DXB carry much of the traffic Visit Dubai markets to. DXB was the world’s busiest airport for international passengers for the 11th consecutive year in 2025, per Airports Council International, and Dubai Airports says international transfers are a significant share of its traffic.
The 2026 figures show the dependency. When flights were suspended or cut, visitor numbers and hotel occupancy fell together, and recovery tracked the return of Emirates capacity. For how airlines handle communications through disruption, see Airline PR and AI Communications.
What can destination marketers learn from Visit Dubai?
A broad source-market mix cushions shocks. No region exceeded 21% of visitors in 2025 or 20% in 2026 to date, so recovery could be rebuilt market by market.
Match the face to the audience. Dubai changed ambassadors by market and by moment, from Bollywood to Hollywood to creators, instead of running one global message.
Recovery needs the trade and residents, not just ads. The 2026 playbook combined a government support package, trade hosting and a resident-invitation programme alongside consumer campaigns.
Name your single point of failure. Dubai’s is air connectivity. Destinations that rely on one carrier or hub should plan crisis communications around it before a disruption.
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