Page 250 - MOET PR REPORT- SEPTEMBER 2025

9/29/25, 5:05 PM UAE tourism sector reaches $70.1bn GDP contribution with record growth in 2024 - Arabian Business: Latest News on the Middle E…

The momentum extended into 2025, with more than 16m hotel guests recorded in the first

half, a 5.5 per cent increase from H1 2024.

Hotel revenues in the same period reached AED26bn ($7.1bn), up 6.3 per cent. The UAE

now operates 1,243 hotels with over 216,000 rooms, with 16 new properties added in
2024.

Projections suggest guest numbers could reach 33 million in 2025, with revenues expected

to grow 7 per cent year-on-year.

Aviation remains a cornerstone of the UAE’s tourism success. Passenger traffic through
UAE airports exceeded 1bn between 2015 and 2024, with aircraft movements rising to

over 6.4m.

International visitor arrivals grew from 15m in 2014 to more than 29m in 2024. In the first
eight months of 2025 alone, airports handled 102.9m passengers, up 5.3 per cent from the

same period in 2024.

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