New report reveals Dubai visitors spend twice as much as tourists in other top cities

If there was any doubt Dubai was the city of big spenders, a new report not only confirms it but crowns it as the stop spending city where tourists fork out the most money overall.

Coming on top of big world cities, famous for receiving the highest numbers of visitors, Dubai beat rivals like London, Tokyo, Paris and New York, as it was named the city where tourists dug the deepest in their pockets and spent the most. Not only that, the amount tourists spent in Dubai last year almost doubled the average of the other top 12 cities in the research. Dubai holidaymakers are by far the biggest spenders.

The news came as Savills published its latest 12 Cities report, revealing the spending habits of visitors to the world’s 12 most visited cities.

The research found that an approximate number of 901 domestic and foreign visitors were attracted to these 12 cities in 2015 and stayed a total of 1.05 billion nights in hotels or other form of accommodation.

The report revealed that average accommodation expenditure per stay was the highest in Dubai, with visitors spending an average of $533 per person compared to $173 in Shanghai, the least expensive of the 12 cities censored.

Speaking about the research’s result, CEO of Core Savills, David Godchaux said:

“In Paris and Dubai, visitors swell the population by over 10 percent, creating demand for guest accommodation. […] The research shows the highest spending visitors, by far, are Dubai’s, who spend nearly twice the average of our 12 cities.”

Findings also showed that visitors with overnight stays in Dubai spent an approximate $4.7 billion just in restaurants and cafes, and when it came to retail therapy, Dubai holidaymakers outdid the others in quite a grand, dramatic way, spending a staggering $9.7 billion, a figure that significantly dwarfs the amounts spent in the other 11 cities in the ranking, putting Dubai well ahead of London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.

If there was ever any doubt that Dubai was not a place to watch the pennies, this research is resounding confirmation. Those that come to Dubai are certainly prepared to splurge and view this as the ultimate pampering destination. With the amount of ultra-luxurious hotels (including the world’s first self-proclaimed seven-star hotel, Burj Dubai, and the first ever boutique designer retreat, the Armani hotel) can we just say - No surprise there!