About a million Russian tourists visited the United Arab Emirates in 2017.
Dubai, UAE. About 995 thousand Russian tourists visited the UAE in 2017, which is 108% more than a year earlier, said the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Russian Federation, Maaded Khareb Al Hailey.
"The number of guests from Russia has more than doubled, primarily due to the simplification of the visa regime. For comparison, in 2016 the UAE was visited by 480 thousand Russians," he said.
The ambassador noted that there are no forecasts for the current year on tourist flow from Russia, but expressed confidence that he will continue to grow further.
Earlier it was reported that the most popular emirate of the UAE Dubai in 2017 was visited by 530 thousand Russian tourists, which is 121% more than a year earlier. The total tourist flow to the emirate amounted to 15.8 million people. At the same time, the Dubai authorities set a goal to receive 20 million tourists in 2020.
From February 2017, Russians can receive UAE visas free of charge upon arrival for a period of 30 days with the possibility of extension for another 30 days.
