Dubai welcomes over 7.9 million visitors in first nine months of 2013

Dubai’s hotels enjoyed a busy first nine months of the year, welcoming over 7.9 million visitors between January and September 2013, a 9.8 per cent year-on-year increase. The latest visitor number results, released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) on the sidelines of World Travel Market (London, UK), show increases across hotel establishment guests, room occupancy levels, hotel and hotel apartment revenues and average length of stay, all key factors in order for Dubai to achieve its Tourism Vision for 2020. During the first nine months of the year, guest numbers across all hotel establishments (hotels and hotel apartments) reached 7,941,118, a 9.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Hotel room occupancy averaged 78.6 per cent over the nine month period, up 3.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2012 and hotel apartment occupancy also saw steady growth, up 7.3 per cent to 81 per cent, compared with 75.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2012. Increasing the length of stay has been identified as a key driver of tourism growth within the Tourism Vision for 2020 and these results were also positive with the average length of stay across hotels and hotel apartments between January and September rising 3.5 per cent year-on-year to 3.9 days. Hoteliers and hotel apartment operators experienced significant growth in revenues, with total revenues for the first nine months of the year up by 17.1 per cent, reaching AED15.33billion. Total guest nights also recorded similarly impressive rises, up 13.7 per cent to 30,874,916 from 27,163,974 in the first nine months of 2012.