Dubai, Dubai relies on air links to double tourists

http://www.todubai.org High quality global journalism requires investment.Dubai relies on air links to double tourists Dubai hopes to double its number of tourists to 20m by the end of the decade as it attracts visitors from new markets and cultivates return guests to the seventh most popular travel destination in the world.Dubai relies on air links to double tourists The city's sun, sea and shopping offering has been central to Dubai's economic revival since its debilitating debt crisis in 2009,Dubai relies on air links to double tourists helped by its haven status since the Arab revolutions. Tourist arrivals rose 9.3 per cent to reach 10.6m last year, helping keep overall hotel occupancy at 78 per cent. From packed beaches and malls to long immigration queues at the city's busy airport, the rise in tourist numbers is plain to see. The government forecasts that further expansion will treble the contribution of tourism to its gross domestic product to Dh300bn ($81.7bn) by 2020.