Dubai was bursting at the seams for Eid.
While it’s still too early to say exactly how many visitors came to the city during the Eid weekend, more than 95 per cent of the seats on planes flying to the emirate from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations were full.
And due to instability in other countries normally visited by GCC nationals and residents, the UAE was the big winner with Dubai and Abu Dhabi both becoming the destinations of choice.
Fadi Abboud, Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, told Gulf News in a phone interview that his nation’s tourism sector took a hit during Eid, with hotel room cancellations in Beirut reaching 90 per cent from Gulf and Syrian tourists — prompting tourism authorities to change their marketing strategy
Festive attractions across malls, restaurants and parks led to the UAE becoming a popular destination for families looking to spend their Eid holidays. Tens of thousand of tourists and revellers flocked to the UAE with their families to make the most of the five-day holiday. Many were also out to take full advantage of the two weekends that made for an extended nine-day holiday.
While many South Asian expats chose to return to their native countries to spend the last few days of Ramadan and Eid with their families, experts say that the bulk of inbound travellers to the UAE were GCC nationals.
“Dubai was a very popular destination for GCC nationals this Eid in part due to the holidays being announced over the same period of time across various GCC countries,” said Eyad Abdul Rahman, Executive Director of Media Relations and Business Development at Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
Abdul Rahman further noted that hotels in Dubai had been very busy during and in the days leading up to Eid due to the influx of visitors that the Eid holidays had generated. The increase in Eid visitors is also indicative in the increase in hotel room rates in Dubai.
Ibis hotel reported a 30 per cent jump in hotel room rate during Eid with rents rising from Dhs300 before Eid to Dhs 396 after Eid.
More than 60 per cent of hotels roooms were occupied by GCC Nationals.
An estimated 45 per cent of the visitors to Dubai came from Saudi Arabia.
It was a similar story in Abu Dhabi.
“Compared to the same period in 2011, we have seen an increase of nearly 25 per cent in footfall across our malls in the emirate of Abu Dhabi,” V. Nandakumar, head of corporate communications at the Lulu Group, told Gulf News.
The group manages seven malls in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, including Al Wahda Mall and Mushrif Mall.
“In terms of visitors from outside the UAE the influx has been led by people from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, followed by other tourists from across the Arab world,” Nandakumar added.
In July alone, the number of Gulf visitors to Lebanon dropped by 60 per cent, prompting the government to focus on new markets such as the Lebanese diaspora, Africans, Europeans and specifically Russians,.
Following a spate of kidnappings and threats to target Gulf nationals, authorities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait advised their citizens to leave Lebanon.
“We have been giving much more attention to our friends in the Gulf, but in Brazil there are 10 million people of Lebanese origin and half a million of them are millionaires. So there are wealthy Brazilians of Lebanese origins and now its fashionable for people to look for their roots,” the Lebanese tourism minister said.
Maybe Beirut should look to some of the promotions used by Dubai.
“Dubai has strongly positioned itself as the destinations for successful events and festivals across the region, and due to its intertwined cultural and traditional values with its neighbouring GCC countries and its proximity, families prefer to spend their vacations and holiday breaks in Dubai,” said Laila Suhail, CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment. “Add to that the state-of-the-art infrastructure of hotels and transportation system and Dubai makes an ideal destination for the GCC visitors.”
According to Suhail one of Dubai’s most popular indoor entertainment venues, Modhesh World, that runs from June 14 to August 25 attracted more than 40,000 visitors on the first three days of Eid alone.
In addition Suhail also revealed that more than 30 per cent of the visitors to Modhesh World this Eid came from outside the UAE and that the number of GCC visitors was significantly higher compared to last year.
Rohma Sadaqat is an intern at Gulf News.
