Dubai: Dubai achieved a six per cent increase in tourism intake during the first nine months of this year with the number of hotel guests reaching nearly six million (5,991,660 guests), up from 5,640,703 guests during the corresponding period in 2009.
Hotel revenue increased 6 per cent to Dh9.23 billion compared to Dh8.70 billion in the corresponding period last year.
The number of hotels and serviced apartments currently active reached 565 compared to 533 in the same period last year.
Although the hotel occupancy rate remained flat, the increase in guests and revenues was driven by an additional 16 per cent capacity in hotel inventory.
"The number of hotel rooms and hotel apartments increased during the first three quarters of 2010 by 16 per cent; from 59,372 rooms and hotel apartments in the first three quarters of last year to 68,654 this year. Hotel occupancy rates were steady for the first nine months of this year and were almost identical to the occupancy rates achieved during the same period last year," said a statement by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the emirate's tourism regulatory body.
First half of year
DTCM Director General Khalid Bin Sulayem said the latest increase in tourism figures follows the 9 per cent increase achieved during the first half of this year.
The occupancy rate for hotel apartments increased by 2 per cent during the first nine months of 2010, reaching 66 per cent compared to 64 per cent for the same period in 2009.
"Such an increase was possible due to the extensive marketing efforts of DTCM, and the diverse promotional programmes it introduces across the global tourism market, in addition to the department's cooperation with private sector organisations locally and internationally," Bin Sulayem said.
Statistics also indicate that the number of tourist reservations in the first three quarters of 2010 reached 18,731,478 compared to 16,378,422 in the same period of 2009, a 14 per cent increase.
"This reflects a softening of hotel rates. If the inventory goes up by 16 per cent and the hotel guest numbers increase by six per cent, obviously, we have now more rooms to grow," Ghassan Aridi, Chief Executive of Alpha Tours, told Gulf News.
"With added hotel capacity, we will now be able to enter new markets and promote Dubai. For some time we could not concentrate on new markets due to the lack of enough hotel rooms."
His own inbound operation has seen an increase in tourists.
"My estimate is that Dubai will end the year 2010 with a ten per cent increase in hotel guests as the numbers have picked up after this summer in a big way," Aridi said.
DTCM has also launched an international campaign to promote the Definitely Dubai initiative, aiming to market the emirate's tourist attractions across the world in collaboration with major international tourism companies.
Joint meeting
This follows a joint meeting between representatives of various hotels and tourism companies which was presided over by Bin Sulayem at The Atlantis The Palm hotel last week in the presence of a number of DTCM managers and executives, and other representatives of the two groups and government entities.
Kulwant Singh, managing director of Lama Tours, told Gulf News: "We have witnessed a 26 per cent growth in tourists and the booking for next year is good.
"We have witnessed a surge in paid bookings for the first quarter of 2011."
