The travel sector of the United Arab Emirates has made a seven per cent increase in its volumes since April. The rise was noted to be based on short haul business trips and long haul leisure trips.

Travel is expected to increase further in the coming year as confidence increases. A survey shows majorities of industry people expecting to see increases in business trips and even larger increases in leisure trips to the United Arab Emirates.

“At the end of 2008 we witnessed a sharp downward trend, but conditions are improving and there is strong optimism that this will improve further. There seems to be a lot more confidence in the current economic environment,” Jane Wilson, Director, Travel and Tourism Research at You-Gov, said in a statement.

Trends have also shown a rise in people from the Middle East travelling to Europe, travel to India and travel is on an upwards trend to Malaysia and Thailand.

“This trend is expected to continue over the next year with the UK and Australia becoming more popular for both types of travel along with China for business trips and Malaysia, Canada, Singapore and the United States all in the top 10 destinations for leisure,” YouGov said in the statement.