Abu Dhabi hotels record 4% rise in guest arrivals in July

DUBAI / WAM

Abu Dhabi achieved a 4% uplift in hotel guests last month, compared to July 2016, with almost 400,000 guests pushing the cumulative total for the first seven months of the year to over 2.6 million, maintaining a growth of 7% on the year, according to figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).
The latest TCA Abu Dhabi report shows that 396,548 guests checked into the emirate’s 164 hotels and hotel apartments in July delivering 928,502 guest nights. Hotel revenues for the month were AED 327 million ($89 million) from a total of almost 33,000 available rooms.
All three regions of the Emirate – Abu Dhabi city, Al Ain and Al Dhafra – posted guest arrival increases on the back of strong domestic tourism visitors from within the UAE, with these 138,273 arrivals accounting for 35% of all monthly visits. Double-digit growth from key tier one markets of the UK and USA, up 28.5% and 20% respectively, reflect an upsurge in summer demand, with China’s phenomenal expansion continuing unabated, posting a monthly comparable increase of 87%.
“The launch of a full programme of Abu Dhabi Summer Season events has helped underpin these figures,” said HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi. “July’s growth in visitors from China, UK, and USA, and the month’s UAE visitor arrivals total of 138,000 is encouraging and compares favourably when adjusted to take into account
the Eid A Fitr boost contained
in the July 2016 figures. India and Saudi Arabia continue to perform well.
Though there is still additional ground to cover, we have to consider the advances that are being made against the backdrop of a destination which has seen a nine per cent increase in hotel room inventory this year compared to last.”
All three regions posted guest arrival growth, with Al Dhafra up 16% on the back of the hugely popular Liwa Date Festival. The July performance means that Abu Dhabi received 2,677,953 hotel guests in the first seven months of the year – a 7% rise on the same period in 2016 with the arrivals translated into 6.8 million guest nights from an average occupancy and length of stay of 69% and 2.54 nights respectively.
“The need to tackle key metrics of Average Length of Stay, Revenue Per Available Room and Occupancy remains a priority,” explained HE Ghobash. “We have embarked on a strategy to leverage the increase in demand from regional visitors, specifically targeting visitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With a prevalence for longer summer stays in 4- and 5-star hotels and superior quality hotel apartments, as well as a tendency to travel in larger family groups, we anticipate an increased number of Saudis will be attracted
by the emirate’s summer offers and activities.
“Over the coming months, we’ll also be extending our promotional activities overseas with attendance at leading cruise, MICE and leisure events in Europe, USA and Asia which allows us to strengthen the emirate’s destination appeal to
international audiences.”
China continues its charge as the leading international source market. For the year-to-date, 213,000 Chinese have stayed in Abu Dhabi’s hotels, representing a 59% increase.
India is the emirate’s second largest overseas market with 192,000 Indians checking into Abu Dhabi from January to July, which is an increase of 7% year-on-year. Guests from the UK remain in third, with 136,000 Britons arriving, reflecting a 5.5 per cent growth rate, with British guests continuing to be one of the longest stayers, staying on average, 3.7 nights.