Despite a woeful year in the travel market and for the Dubai tourist market in 2009, things seem like they will improve this year. The first nine months of last year saw a not very encouraging influx of travellers to the rich Arab state, but compared to many of their rivals in the region, they still showed plenty of promise. Dubai actually witnessed a growth of tourist numbers, between January and September 2009, by just over three per cent. This was less than previously forecast by the tourism authority, but better than expected considering the worldwide recession.

Dubai launched a new advertising campaign that might have helped their tourist economy grow last year. Instead of advertising only the rich and affluent areas, they opted to appeal the budget travellers and targeted places in the state that were more affordable to the average traveler and even the backpacker type. This opened up Dubai to a new influx of tourists that were keen to see what the real Dubai was like and also be able to say that they had bee to Dubai. The new campaign is expected to keep on running well into this year as they look alternative ways of making that all important tourist buck.

Early news from travel agents and online search engines is suggesting that Dubai is growing in popularity this year as more people are making enquiries. Hotels bookings are already up on 2009 on the great deals you can get on flights to the Middle East are having a positive effect on Dubai and the surrounding countries.

Dubai 2010 is looking positive