Hotel revenues in Dubai climb to Dh2.83b

06/07/2006

Dubai: Revenues of hotels in Dubai increased 20 per cent to Dh2.83 billion in the first quarter of this year compared with Dh2.36 billion in the same quarter last year, according to official statistics.

At the same time the number of tourists rose from 1.6 million to 1.7 million.

According to the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the UK topped the list of source markets for Dubai's tourist arrivals.

During the first quarter, 159,008 British citizens stayed in Dubai hotels, followed by 84,290 Russians, 80,247 Iranians, 78,305 Americans, 72,387 Germans, 71,756 Indians and 33,306 Pakistanis.

Among Arab visitors, the hotels had 96,135 Saudis, 33,450 Omanis, 30,022 Kuwaitis, 24,673 Egyptians, 17,681 Bahrainis, 17,516 Lebanese, 16,331 Qataris and 14,212 Jordanians.

DTCM director-general Khalid Bin Sulayem attributed the increase in visitors and revenues to "new projects, infrastructure expansion and sustained international marketing."

Dubai's target is to achieve 15 million tourists in 2010.

For this, the city will need 80,000 hotel rooms, 50,000 more than its current capacity. Room occupancy rate for five-star hotels was 91.8 per cent, while it was 87.5 per cent for four-star hotels and 73.5 per cent for three-star hotels, the DTCM figures showed. Average revenue per room was Dh584, while for five-star hotels it was Dh1,017.