Dubai’s tourist boom touches 9.8% for Jan-Sept 2013
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Dubai’s hotels catered to over 7.9 million visitors between January and September 2013. This resulted in a 9.8% year-on-year increase. The latest visitor number results were released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) which show increases across hotel establishment guests, occupancy, hotel and hotel apartment revenues and average length of stay.
During the first nine months of the year, hotel room occupancy averaged 78.6% over the nine month period, up 3.1% compared to 2012. The hotel apartment occupancy also saw steady growth, up 7.3% to 81%, compared with 75.5% for the same period in 2012. Increasing length of stay has been identified as a key driver of tourism growth within the Tourism Vision for 2020. The average length of stay across hotels and hotel apartments has risen 3.5% year-on-year to 3.9 days.
Revenues were also high for hotels and hotel apartment operators. The total revenues for the first nine months are up by 17.1%, reaching AED15.33billion. Total guest nights also recorded similarly impressive rises, up 13.7% to 30,874,916 from 27,163,974 in 2012.
His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of DTCM said: “The figures show a steady and consistent increase across key indicators that are critical in order to achieve our Tourism Vision for 2020. We have made positive early steps which demonstrate that while our aims are ambitious, they are achievable.”
Saudi Arabia, India, UK, USA, Russia, Kuwait, Germany, Oman, China and Iran made up the top 10 source markets, mostly unchanged compared to 2012. Consistently Dubai’s primary source market, Saudi Arabia experienced the most growth, with visitor numbers increasing by 24.8% to 1,052,353. India ranking second continued to show strong increases with visitors up by 15%. Other markets which experienced strong growth include Australia – with a 34.9% from 144,121 in 2012 to 194,448 for the same period of this year – and China had a 11% from 181,180 to 201,036.
Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020, announced earlier this year under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and spearheaded by DTCM, sets out how the Emirate will double its annual visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020.
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