Dubai says it is on track for a record year for visitor numbers having recorded 11.58 million arrivals in the first nine months of 2017.
The figures, released by Dubai Tourism, represent a 7.5% rise against the same period last year.
The UK was third in terms of the number of arrivals, with 905,000 British travellers making the trip to the emirate between January and September 2017 – 2% more than the same time last year.
India, with nearly 1.5million visitors, was its top source market in the period, and arrivals from the country were 20% up on last year.
Saudi Arabia, a neighbour of the UAE, was Dubai’s second largest source market.
Dubai is aiming to reach 20 million visitors per year by 2020.
Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Dubai Tourism, said: trade initiatives played a part in the growth.
He said: “Even as we continually work to ensure Dubai’s proposition remains stellar and globally competitive, drawing on the concerted cross-industry efforts of all stakeholders, our priority remains the delivery of the highest levels of visitor satisfaction.”