Key Insights into Development Costs & Features for Building an App Like Visit Dubai
January 3, 2025
Tourism is among the fastest-growing sectors, and the global tourism market is estimated to grow by 3.9%(2025 to 2029), reaching US$1114 billion in 2029. Tourism apps enable travelers to explore cities and go sightseeing seamlessly without relying on anyone, as everything fits in the app. Visit Dubai is one of the popular travel apps among tourists who love exploring the vibrant city and visiting attractions, events, and hotel accommodations.
In this blog, we will learn about the essential features and cost to develop an app like Visit Dubai that can inspire app developers and businesses to start a travel business.
Factors Influencing Development Costs of Building Visit Dubai App
Before starting the app development process, it is crucial to understand the complexity of the Visit Dubai App and how its features help cater to tourists’ needs. Some of the main features of the Visit Dubai app are event listings, booking services, interactive maps, destination guides for tourist attractions, support for multiple languages, customized recommendations, offline access, etc.
Apart from that, another reason behind the success of the Visit Dubai app is the appealing user interface and intuitive navigation. The app also focuses on offering personalization along with offline functionality to enhance usability and add value for tourists.
Let’s explore some of the main factors that impact the app development process for building a travel app like Visit Dubai-
- Complexity of App
The complexity of an app is directly related to the number of features, integrations, and customization needed for the app. The complex apps require additional development time, advanced skills, and in-depth testing, which can increase the development costs.
- Choice of Platform
The app platform you choose for your app, i.e., iOS, Android, or both platforms, also impacts the overall development cost. Building for both apps requires different codebases, which can increase development time and expenses. Another option is to use cross-platform tools like React Native or Flutter to streamline the process and help lower costs.
- App Development Team
Another factor impacting the development cost is the location and expertise of the app development team. Larger teams with advanced skills are good for tackling more complex projects but will also add to higher expenses due to overhead. App developers from different regions have different hourly rates, and offshore teams are good for affordable options.
- App Design and User Experience
Making use of a well-crafted design with a strong user experience plays a key role in making the app successful. Though working with skilled designers and UX professionals can add up the initial costs, it will also lead to enhanced user engagement and higher app download rates.
- Backend Development
Another factor that affects the cost is to build the backend infrastructure for the apps—such as servers, databases, and APIs. The costs will vary depending on the backend’s complexity, the hosting solution you choose, and ongoing maintenance and scaling needs.
- Testing and Quality Assurance
To ensure the app operates seamlessly and delivers a positive user experience, in-depth testing is important. This process can be labor-intensive, as it requires specialized tools and expertise, contributing to the total project cost.
- App Maintenance and Updates
Another factor is the cost related to app regular maintenance, updates, and support. These ongoing costs can change based on the app’s complexity, the frequency of the updates, and the support required.
Understanding the Development Cost of Building an App like Visit Dubai
You may be wondering –how much it cost to develop an app like Visit Dubai! In this sector, we will cover everything that is related to the development costs- whether it is for design, development, testing, or maintenance.
Development Expenses
For building a travel app like Visit Dubai, we will consider different aspects such as
- App UI/UX Design
The cost for the design phase can come between $5k and $30k, which is influenced by the intricacy and quality of the user interface and experience.
- App Development
The next phase is coding and development where costs for building a basic application may start around $20k while advanced app development costs can even surpass $150k.
- App Testing
Another important aspect of a successful app launch is quality assurance, and testing is vital for a successful rollout. The costs may come between $5k and $20k, based on the complexity of the application.
- App Deployment
Deploying the app on platforms such as the App Store and Google Play can incur costs ranging from $1k to $5k, which is related to necessary compliance and setup charges.
Backend Development
Building the server-side infrastructure is also important for app functionality and costs associated with backend development can start from $30k and may surpass $100k. This cost is related to many aspects such as server hosting, database setup, API development & integrations, etc.
Third-Party Integrations
To make the travel app more successful and functional, incorporating external services, like payment gateways and mapping APIs, is important, but it also adds up to the costs. The integration cost can come between $1k and $10k, depending on the complexity you choose for your app. For instance, payment gateway integration costs can come between $3k to $7k. Google Map APIs can range between $1k to $5k depending on usage.
App Maintenance and Updates
Even after the app launch, making the app relevant and updating the app is critical for its continued success. The yearly maintenance costs start from $20k to $50k. This cost can include bug fixes & updates, security updates, feature enhancements, and performance monitoring.
Final Thoughts
To build a successful travel app, it is crucial to learn about the best features and choose the right development expertise aligned with your business goals. This will help to ensure that the app you are building meets not just user needs but also helps to gain a competitive advantage.
If you are planning to build an app like Visit Dubai, take the help of the expert team of Clavax, a reliable tourism app development company. We can assist you in building a personalized app along with detailed consultations & tailored cost estimates based on specific needs. Connect with our developers today to book your consultation & work with the right development partner to build a successful tourism app similar to Visit Dubai.