Dubai airport raises annual forecast to 93 million passengers in 2024

The world's busiest international hub is also in the design review stage of its new terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport, CEO says

Dubai International handled a record 44.9 million people during the first six months of this year: Photo: Dubai Airports

Dubai Airports has raised its annual forecast for the emirate's main hub to 93 million passengers in 2024, up from an earlier forecast of 91.8 million, despite heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is set to exceed its August forecast, in which it was expected to handle 91.8 million passengers this year and 93.8 million in 2025, operator Dubai Airports said.

"We are ahead of schedule," Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths told reporters on the sidelines of the FHS World event on Monday. "What we're hoping is to see 93 million, that's the projection. We had a very strong first half this year.

We're hoping to get to 93 million by the end of the year and 100 million a couple of years away. Every time we revise our forecast, it's always in the upward direction, so that's a very positive trajectory."

He attributed the improved forecast to the "attractiveness of Dubai" as a destination that continues to drive more traffic through the airport.

DXB has recorded a rise in point-to-point traffic since the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers whose final destination is Dubai make up 60 per cent of DXB's total traffic today, compared to 40 per cent before the pandemic, so the "enhanced numbers of people actually coming to Dubai is the reason for these exceptional projections", Mr Griffiths said.

The annual passenger forecast raise comes after DXB in the first six months of this year handled a record 44.9 million people, up 8 per cent on the same period of 2023.

The emirate hosted 9.3 million overnight international visitors from January to June this year, up by about 9 per cent annually, helped by the emirate's push to strengthen and expand its tourism sector, according to July data from the Department of Economy and Tourism.

Dubai is a major trade, tourism and business centre in the Middle East, attracting a record 17.1 million international overnight visitors in 2023, the department. The emirate has attracted foreign expats to the city with more flexible visa schemes, infrastructure spending and economic diversification strategy.

The UAE Central Bank now expects the Gulf country's economy to expand by 4 per cent this year, an increase from its estimate in June of 3.9 per cent, on the back of a boost from its non-oil sector from property to tourism.

Dubai currently has more than 151,000 hotel rooms and "there's still demand for more", Issam Kazim, chief executive of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, told the FHS World event in Dubai on Monday.

"In terms of the number of hotels, there's a lot of potential for us to grow, but it's also making sure that we're going to the right locations, because now we have different destinations within the city of Dubai, and also cater to different budgets," he said.

"Dubai doesn't just get into the luxury segment as it was perceived in the past. Today we know that there are amazing three-star hotels as well that can compete with many five-stars [hotels] around the world."

Airport of the future

To accommodate the growing number of visitors in the future, Dubai is planning to open a new passenger terminal at its second airport Al Maktoum International.

Asked about the status of the contracts and construction, Mr Griffiths said the project is still in the design review stage.

"There's a lot of work going on at the moment to optimise the design because we obviously we want to build not just the biggest but the best airport in the world and that needs a lot of thought, lots of system integration, a lot of technology under process, so there's a huge amount of work ahead."