Dubai ranks first regionally and second globally in a 2021 list of the world’s Top 100 City Destinations. The city held the leading place globally during 2020. Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations Index 2021 acknowledged the strength of Dubai’s infrastructure and its government’s efforts to contain the pandemic.

“The city has been open to international tourists since July 2020. Government efforts to mobilise and support the travel and tourism sector have been pivotal,” the report noted.

Dubai is the only city from an emerging country to feature in the top 10. It climbed down a step from the top spot it held in 2020. Despite that, Dubai was lauded for its efforts to vaccinate the population against the Covid-19 pandemic. Only Paris finished above Dubai. Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome made up the remainder of the Top 5 in the Index.

“Dubai ranks highest in terms of Health and Safety among the top 10 cities,” said the Euromonitor report.“ The vaccination process is easy, vaccination rates are high and stringent safety measures are in place for all public places and tourist spots. As a result, there is increasing visitor confidence among international and local tourists to the city.”

UAE Cities Shine in the Top 100 City Destinations Index

Three UAE cities outshone the rest in the health and safety section of the report. Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi all ranked in the Top 5. Sharjah ranked in the second position, just behind Singapore, with Doha taking third ahead of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

All three UAE cities showed a significant improvement from the previous year’s performance. Sharjah leapt 15 places, Dubai was up by 19 and Abu Dhabi increased its ranking by 20 spots. Dubai was the top-performing city overall in the Middle East and Africa region.

The UK-based Euromonitor International published The Top 100 City Destinations Index 2021. Euromonitor is a global provider of business intelligence, market analysis and consumer insights.

The report ranked cities for their performances in 2021 across a range of sectors. These included economic and business performance, tourism performance, tourism policy and attractiveness, tourism infrastructure, health and safety and sustainability.

Dubai ranks second in terms of labour and employment levels and fourth in terms of favourable demographic factors. “Government support provided to the private sector has been pivotal in protecting against economic shocks,” said the report. “Its well-managed Covid-19 crisis allowed for a much faster reopening of consumer services, such as retail and food service, and the organisation of physical events. In addition, Dubai has one of the highest levels of disposable income globally, offering great potential for the city to see improved expenditure on leisure, recreation and hotels.”

Dubai bagged the fourth spot among most popular destinations for tourism policy and attractiveness, down two places from 2020. Dublin, Paris and Madrid occupied the top three spots. It ranks eighth in the economic and business domain along with tourism performance.