Dubai: Hotels in Abu Dhabi saw occupancy climb to 79 per cent during the first quarter of the year as 834,771 guests checked in, marking a 32 per cent increase over the same period in 2013, the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) said on Wednesday.
Since the first quarter of last year, 11 more hotels opened in the emirate, which currently has 152 hotels and hotel apartments, according to a statement by TCA Abu Dhabi. Hotel room stock now stands at 26,811.
Guest nights surged 22 per cent year-on-year to 2.6 million. Average room rates in the emirate currently amounts to Dh455.
Hotels’ total revenue touched Dh1,585 billion, marking an increase of 11 per cent, while food and beverage income was up 11 per cent to Dh595.4 million.
“The first quarter is characterised as a particularly busy period for major events in Abu Dhabi both from the leisure and business perspective while increasing air access is bringing new markets within our reach,” said Jasem Al Darmaki, deputy director general of TCA Abu Dhabi, in a statement.
In the last 18 months, “demand has outstripped the increase in [hotel room] supply” in the emirate, mainly due to stronger air connectivity between Abu Dhabi and other destinations, according to Christopher Hewett, senior consultant at TRI Hospitality Consulting.
Between January and April 19, demand has gone up 22 per cent in the emirate compared to the corresponding period last year, while supply has grown by 10 per cent, said Philip Wooller, area director for the Middle East and Africa at STR Global.
India leads international source markets
The emirate welcomed 50,291 Indian guests during the first quarter, marking a 14 per cent growth over the corresponding period in 2013. They stayed for 196,208 guest nights.
“We envisage greater throughput from India with the opening of Etihad Airways’ services from Jaipur to Abu Dhabi International and the additional exposure the emirate has gained within India by the staging of some of the IPL’s [Pepsi Indian Premier League] seventh season matches in Abu Dhabi,” Al Darmaki said.
The IPL 2014 matches were held between April 16-30 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Meanwhile, guests from the UK, which is the emirate’s second largest international source market after India, rose by 25 per cent to 49,720. Germany followed with 36,921 guests, while arrivals from China reached 32,259, marking a growth of 208 per cent.
Guests from Chinese company
“We expect even bigger returns from China for April after the staging of part of the mega Nu Skin incentive in Abu Dhabi this month. During the Nu Skin incentive, around 6,000 of its guests stayed in 16 Abu Dhabi hotels and delivered 12,500 room nights which is almost double that of all Chinese guest stays in April last year,” Al Darmaki said.
Around 14,500 guests from China-based cosmetics company Nu Skin stayed in the UAE between April 6-17 and visited different areas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Meanwhile, there were 260,755 UAE nationals that checked into the emirate’s hotels, up 29 per cent over the first quarter of 2013.
Last year, Abu Dhabi welcomed over 2.8 million guests, with a target of reaching 3.1 million guests this year.
