DUBAI: Dubai Electricity & Water Authority reported a revenue of 8.5 billion dirhams ($2.3 billion) and a net profit of 3.1 billion dirhams during the third quarter of 2022. This represents an increase of 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over last year"s figures, according to a press release. Revenue and profit for the first nine months of 2022 were 20.6 billion dirhams and 6.5 billion dirhams, respectively, which were up 15 percent and 21 percent from last year. In 2022, the energy demand reached 40.7 terawatt-hours for the first nine months, up from 38.6 TWh during the same period in 2021, according to DEWA. In the first nine months of 2022, peak demand was 9.5GW in July, an increase of 3.3 percent on the same period last year. There was a 3.59 percent increase in electricity production for DEWA’s third quarter of 2022, representing 17.3TWh. A total of 36.7 billion imperial gallons of desalinated water were produced by the utility company during the same period, an increase of 6.59 percent from last year. In 2022, DEWA will distribute dividends worth 8.23 billion dirhams to its shareholders. The company will also distribute a one-time special dividend to shareholders of 2.03 billion dirhams, or 4.06 fils per share. DEWA made its first dividend payment of 6.2 fils per share on Oct. 26, as part of its dividend policy to pay a minimum dividend of 6.2 billion dollars over the next five years. A similar amount is expected to be paid in April 2023 for the second half of the year. Dubai to increase tourism’s contribution to GDP to $122.5 billion Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president, prime minister, and Dubai ruler launched the UAE Tourism Strategy 2031 on Friday as one of the most important projects in the next few years. According to Emirates News Agency WAM, the strategy aims to strengthen the UAE’s reputation as one of the world’s best tourist destinations. “Today, we approved UAE’s Tourism Strategy 2031. UAE ranks among the top 10 global tourist destinations. Our goal is to boost our competitiveness by attracting 100 billion dirhams as additional tourism investments and welcome 40 million hotel guests in 2031,” said Al-Maktoum. Adding to this, he stated that tourism is crucial to diversifying the economy and improving the UAE’s global competitiveness. In collaboration with federal and local tourism authorities, national airlines, and international institutions and companies, the strategy aims to develop a unified tourism identity and support an integrated and well-established tourism ecosystem in the UAE, so tourists from around the world have a distinctive experience. It aims to increase the tourism sector’s contribution to gross domestic product to 450 billion dirhams, an annual increase of 27 billion dirhams, and attract 100 billion dirhams in new investments to the sector. A unified national tourism identity is strengthened, specialized tourism products are developed and diversified, tourism capabilities are built, national cadres are encouraged to contribute to the tourism sector, and investments are increased in all tourism sectors, according to the report. The Emirates" National Tourism Strategy 2031 was developed as a result of cooperation between the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, the UAE Central Bank, the General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE airlines, the World Tourism Organization, several international companies, and the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center.