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DUBAI, UAE, April 06, 2014 — Travel bookings from the UAE to world destinations increased 13 percent, on average, in 2013 compared to 2012, according to the findings from the first wave of the Travel Beacon – UAE Outbound Travel Trade Barometer, launched in January 2014 by Dubai-based consultancy Market Vision that specializes in tourism research and consulting. Kumud Sengupta, Director of Market Vision said, “Steady improvement in the UAE economy, along with an upswing in the real estate and construction sectors saw business and consumer sentiments improve remarkably leading to a rise in travel momentum in 2013.” Travel trade respondents reported strong growth in leisure travel bookings (up 14 percent) as well as business travel bookings (up 12 percent) in 2013 compared to the previous year. Europe performed the best! On average, 16 percent growth was reported in bookings to Europe in 2013 over 2012, the highest among all world regions. Bookings to Asia and the Pacific, the largest outbound travel region, increased 13 percent in 2013 over 2012. While bookings for Africa and the Americas increased 7 percent, intra-regional travel continued to suffer on account of regional political turmoil. Respondents reported 9 percent decline in bookings to the Middle East in 2013 compared to the previous year. Germany, France, Turkey, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Italy, Thailand and Singapore were among the best performing travel destinations from the UAE last year. According to the Barometer findings, the winning of the Expo 2020 bid by Dubai has further boosted business and consumer confidence, and the majority of the travel trade projected continued growth in outbound travel from the UAE in 2014. Six in ten travel trade respondents in the Barometer survey projected an increase in bookings in first quarter 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, while over eight out of ten respondents projected higher bookings in second quarter 2014 compared to the same period in the previous year. The UAE is the 21st largest travel market in the world in terms of outbound travel expenditure, with total spend of US$15.1 billion on outbound travel in 2012, as per UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) statistics. “Visa-free travel to the United Kingdom from January 2014, and recent approval of visa-free travel in Schengen countries for UAE nationals is likely to boost travel to European destinations. It will become vital for competitor destinations to monitor trends closely, understand what travel products are in demand, identify key travel barriers and motivations in order to align strategic decisions and promotional tactics with market demand,” stated Kumud Sengupta when releasing the Barometer report. Results of the second wave of the Barometer will be provided in the last week of May 2014. Market Vision’s Travel Beacon - UAE Travel Trade Barometer program provides travel and tourism organizations with data from in-country travel trade on trends in bookings and projected bookings, in a reliable and timely manner on a quarterly basis.
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