Dubai hotels buck trend as number of rooms rises 17%
The revenues of hotel establishments during January-March 2009 period was Dh4.26 billion.
The total hotel rooms available touched 40,864 in the first quarter of 2009, up by 17 per cent from the same period in 2008.
The DTCM Director-General, Khalid A bin Sulayem, said: “The performance of Dubai hotel establishments in the first quarter of 2009, on the back of a strong 2008 performance, confirms the emirate’s solid standing on the world tourism map despite the global economic downturn and our promotional and marketing agenda being on the right track.
A total of 1.89 million guests stayed in Dubai hotels in the first quarter of 2009. The number of operating hotels and hotel apartments rose to 519 in the first quarter of 2009, up from 475 during the same period in 2008.
Last year, Dubai hotels received 7.5 million guests, an increase of 8.3 per cent over 2007, while guest nights swell by 9.2 per cent to touch 22.42 million.
The number of apartment rooms rose to 46,355 in January-March 2009 period, an increase of 30 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2008. The first quarter of 2009 recorded 5.34 million guest nights. The UK remained the top source market for Dubai tourism industry in the first quarter 2009, followed by Iran, India, US, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, Pakistan, France and Kuwait – same as the first quarter of 2008.
Sulayem said: “The performance reaffirms that tourism industry in Dubai is healthy and strong. The results confirm excellent growth in almost every segment. The performance also reaffirms the strong co-operation between various organisations in both public and private sectors.”
He said the DTCM, long before the global crisis surfaced with intensity, created a task force with experts and representatives of Dubai tourism industry players, to review the market landscape.
Portal launched
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Aviation Authority and Chief Executive of Emirates Airlines Group, yesterday launched an interactive portal DefinitelyDubai.com at the Dubai Stand at ATM.
The new portal has been designed to support the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing’s (DTCM) new promotional campaigns.
DTCM Director-General Khalid A bin Sulayem, who accompanied Sheikh Ahmed, said: “I am pleased to say that our DefinitelyDubai portal is perhaps the first of its kind globally to deploy several unique features including a fully-immersive and navigable interactive video. This is just the start of what’s to come online to help renew the vision and promise of Dubai.”
Source: Emirates Business 24|7
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