Dubai hotels record 9% increase in guest numbers for Q1 of 2012
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The January-March 2012 results caps the performance posted by the hotels in Dubai last year with revenues touching an high of AED16 billion and 10% increase in the guest numbers which crossed the nine million mark.
Announcing the results at Arabian Travel Market, Khalid A bin Sulayem, DTCM director general, said: “The results of our hospitality industry is the outcome of substantial expansion of the tourist infrastructure, an increasingly impressive portfolio of tourism products, wider destination awareness, aggressive promotional and marketing drive and growing air-connectivity to and from Dubai.”
During Q1 2012, Dubai hotels and hotel apartments played host to nearly 2.6 million guests, an increase of 9% over the corresponding period last year. Similarly, guest nights increased by 22% to touch AED10.35 million, while the revenues recorded 24% increase to more than AED5.38 billion.
The number of hotels increased by 1% to reach 577 with the total number of rooms and flats increased to 4% touching 75171. Hotel room occupancy rate stood at 87%, an increase of 8% while it was 84% occupancy for the apartment flat, a 5% increase.
However, the apartment average room rate witnessed 12% increase to reach Dhs448 while the hotel average room rate was Dhs655, an increase of 7%.
In terms of market performance, Saudi Arabia topped the Top 20 Source Market List with 272,631 guests, thereby consolidating Dubai’s position in the intra-Gulf tourism business landscape. India notched up second position with 207,774 guests followed by the UK and the US with 174,922 and 129,978 guests, respectively. Russia ranked fifth with 109,219 guests.
The other top performers were Iran (106,352), Germany (99,065), Kuwait (70,399), China (66,926), Oman (65,779), Pakistan (62,234), France (48,347), Egypt (45,696), Qatar (40,804), Australia (36,307), Italy (32,477), Jordan (27,526), Netherlands (26,750), Philippines (26,509) and Lebanon (24,771).