Tour operators are hoping that the number of Russian visitors to Dubai will increase again in 2009. Last year there was a 21 per cent increase in the number of Russian tourists to Dubai. Russian based Natalie Tours CEO said “Dubai has attracted 51,000 Russian tourists so far this year, which is at a par with the numbers last year. We still have three months to improve that.”
Natalie Tours is hosting a five day tourism conference in Dubai which opened at the Atlantis Dubai yesterday. Another tour operator CEO noted that the Russian market is clearly a stable market for Dubai. Chief Executive Office of Alpha Tours, Ghassan Aridi, noted that Russian tourists together with Saudi Arabians, spend the most in Dubai.