Dubai tourism growth stalls in first nine months of 2018

DUBAI (Reuters) - Growth in the number of foreign visitors to Dubai stalled in the first nine months of year, official data showed on Sunday in a sharp slowdown in tourism in the Gulf emirate.

Tourist hub Dubai, which has spent billions of dollars building attractions such as the world's tallest tower, recorded 11.58 million visitors in the nine months to Sept. 30, Dubai's government media office said.

It did not provide a comparative figure but the emirate's tourism department last year reported 11.58 million visitors for the same period in 2017, up 7.5 percent.

Dubai, which lacks the oil wealth of some of its neighbours, is seeing a slowdown in some sectors such as real estate after years of strong growth. The tourism sector was worth 109 billion dirham ($29.7 billion) at the end of 2017, according to the tourism department.

Most overseas visitors to Dubai so far in 2018 came from India, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, the Dubai Media Office said in a tweet.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, has relaxed visa rules for Chinese and Russians in recent years in a bid to boost tourism.

Growth in passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport has slowed this year, after 15 years of robust increases.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)