Compared to 2009, when Dubai was visited by about 7.85 million tourists, this means an increase of 10.6%. Nevertheless, this figure looks much more modest than the 15 million tourists who were planned to be attracted to Dubai in 2010. In addition, according to DTKM estimates, the number of applications for accommodation in hotels in 2010 amounted to only 70% of the number of places provided.
Tourism revenues in Dubai grew last year by 6.5% compared with 2009, from 12.5 billion (US $ 3.4 billion) to 13.3 billion dirhams (US $ 3.6 billion). Together with 30 new hotels that opened in 2010, the total number of hotels in Dubai was 382, and the total number of rooms was 70,995. The growing popularity of Dubai as a stopping point for cruise ships was expressed in almost 50% increase in the number of cruise passengers arriving in Dubai in 2010, from 262 740 to 390 255 people.
