Russia was the second-largest source market for the United Arab Emirates travel and tourism industry for 2021. The data released ahead of the next edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), shows the country has climbed from eighth position in last year’s rankings.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) is by far the most preferred Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) destination for Russian visitors and is likely to retain that status says a report by Colliers which was commissioned by Reed Exhibition (RX). Of the Russians travelling to the GCC countries, 90 pc prefer to head to the UAE. In addition to the volume of Russian inbound visitors, their average spend is also expected to grow significantly between 2021 and 2026, increasing by USD 85 to approximately USD 1,280 per person during this period.

Consequently, the Russian market is on course to surpass USD 1 billion for the Emirates within the next four years. “The latest figures from Colliers demonstrate that visitors from Russia are playing and will continue to play an important role for our region’s travel sector, especially when it comes to the UAE,” says Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME – Arabian Travel Market.

“The fact that Dubai was among the first destinations to open its borders to Russian travellers without the need to quarantine has no doubt been a significant factor in the sustained levels of visitation, with 296,000 inbound arrivals to the emirate in 2020. Encouragingly, 2021 numbers look set to surpass that figure, with Dubai having welcomed 256,000 visitors from Russia as of the third quarter of the year,” Curtis adds.

The Russian traveller’s average length of stay (ALoS) saw a year-on-year uptick of 74.5 pc in Q4 2020, growing to 8.2 nights from the 4.7 nights recorded during the corresponding period of the previous year. Though ALoS is expected to decline gradually in the future as new regional destinations continue to emerge, Colliers researchers predict that drivers such as Expo 2020 Dubai and spill-over demand from FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will boost inbound arrivals from Russia by 170 pc in the short term.

“In light of this forecast, the Russian travel and tourism market will be of great interest to ATM 2022 attendees. As such, we will have a dedicated seminar on the Russian market, which will tackle key content on this lucrative market, as well as focusing on attracting leading buyers through our hosted buyer programme,” observes Curtis.

The session organised by Destination of the World News will focus on the luxury end of the market. In its 29th year and working collaboration with the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), ATM show highlights will also include, fey focuses on the source of markets for Saudi Arabia, Russia and India.

ATM, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from May 9-12, will also play an integral role in Arabian Travel Week, a festival of events dedicated to enabling travel professionals from all over the world to collaborate and shape the recovery of the Middle East travel industry through exhibitions, conferences, breakfast briefings, awards, product launches and networking events.