Abu Dhabi witnesses double digit growth in hotel guests in August

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business

Abu Dhabi witnessed a dramatic double digit increase in the number of hotel guests during August compared to the same period in 2016, helping to drive the total number of guests staying in the emirate to more than 3.1 million for the first eight months of the year.
Figures released by the Department of Culture and Tourism, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, reveal 426,912 hotel guests at the emirate’s 166 hotels and hotel apartments in August, a rise of 13% over the same month last year.
The total number of hotel guests so far in 2016 is up 7 percent in comparison to the comparable time frame in 2016, with occupancy standing at 68 percent.
HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director General, Department of Culture and Tourism, said: “We are encouraged by August’s figures and the increased growth, during a month which is traditionally a quieter time of the year for hotel guests. Our annual Abu Dhabi Summer Season, which ran from July 20 until August 20, once again proved highly popular with domestic visitors and we saw key international markets all show notable growth during the month due to concentrated promotional and marketing campaigns locally, regionally and internationally.
“As the year moves on, we expect to see further progress, not least due to the highly-anticipated opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi on November 11 which has rightly attracted huge interest from across the world. We still have some opportunities to increase length-of-stay at our hotels and maintain revenues, but we are actively addressing these things as we constantly strive to improve our destination’s appeal with concerted international marketing campaigns in tandem with our 11 overseas offices.”
The emirate’s hotels saw visitor figures boosted across all three regions of the emirate in August on the back of strong domestic tourism visitors from within the UAE, with Abu Dhabi city recording an 11% increase in hotel guests compared to the corresponding month last year, Al Ain region recording a 20% rise and the Al Dhafra region up 51%. The numbers of UAE hotel guests in August totaled 147,535,a rise of almost 6%, helped largely by the highly successful emirate-wide Abu Dhabi Summer Season which saw a month-long programme of family entertainment held at venues across all three regions.
There were also notable increases in hotel guests from Abu Dhabi’s tier one markets of India, rising
24 percent to 31,202, China 68 percent to 28,747, Saudi Arabia 9.9 percent to 23,111 and the United States up
35 percent to 11,703.
The lifting of visa restrictions at the start of the year on Chinese travellers to the country has resulted in phenomenal growth from the country, with the Chinese now becoming Abu Dhabi’s largest overseas source market, heading India and the United Kingdom.
HE Ghobash added: “Working alongside our partners and stakeholders to deliver a world-class tourism destination while preserving the culture and heritage of the emirate is reaping positive dividends and we have much more to achieve.”
A number of upcoming high-profile events including Louvre Abu Dhabi opening to the public, the annual Abu Dhabi Art fair and the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix are all expected to attract large numbers of domestic and international visitors to help increase year-on-year growth compared to last year’s record number of hotel guest arrivals into the emirate.