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UAE tourist Visa card spending up 20 per cent in 2010
Surge in inbound tourism is attributed to the recovery of the global economy and significant infrastructure developments undertaken across the UAE
Reuters Published in Ahram Online on 15 - 08 - 2011

Travellers to the United Arab Emirates spent 20.3 per cent more with their Visa cards in 2010 compared with the previous year, as tourism recovered from the impact of the global financial crisis, a company executive said on Sunday.
Kamran Siddiqi, general manager for Visa Middle East, said company data showed international travelers spent US$3.1 billion in the UAE, at $298 billion the second largest Arabeconomy.
"Significant infrastructure developments throughout the UAE have contributed towards this turnaround, and the UAE is forecast to experience some of the world's strongest inbound tourism growth over the next five years," he told Reuters.
Siddiqi declined to provide a forecast for this year. He said Visa cardholders from Britain, the United States andRussiacontinued to be the largest spenders in the OPEC member in 2010.
The UAE tourism industry and consumer spending was hard hit in the global financial turmoil, which triggered Dubai's debt crisis in late 2009. Private expenditure accounted for around 59 per cent of the UAE economy last year, the National Bureau of Statistics data showed.
Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport -- the world's fourth busiest airport -- rose 15 per cent in 2010 as the global economy recovered. It was up 8.9 per cent in the first half of 2011 despite high fuel costs and increased economic uncertainty in Europe and the United States.
Hotels in the UAE trade and tourism hub Dubai, known for the world's tallest tower, reported a modest occupancy increase of 0.7 per cent to 69.9 per cent in May from the previous year.
Siddiqi said the UAE had also seen a sharp spending rise from emerging market cardholders such as those fromChina.
"In 2010, Chinese travelers spent 155.3 per cent more in the UAE than they did in 2009. Luxury retailers noted the rise in Chinese visitors that began in 2010 shows no signs of abating as an increasing number of Chinese tourists are looking for high-end luxury goods," he said.
The UAE, the world's No. 3 oil exporter, has been spared the political turmoil affecting nearby Bahrain, Oman andYemen, drawing visitors to attractions such as the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel and an indoor ski slope.
Visa, which processes credit card payments in more than 200 countries, registered 14 per cent growth in payment processing worldwide last year. Volumes jumped 19.5 per cent in the Gulf compared with 2009, it said in April.
International tourist arrivals to the UAE are expected to grow by 7 per cent to 13 million trips by 2015, Euromonitor International figures show. Analysts polled by Reuters in June expect the UAE economy to expand by 3.7 per cent in 2011.

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