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RITIKA SHARMA /
Emirates Business
Every summer, UAE hotels host a mix of tourists from across the world. This year, the industry looks more to beach and sun lovers from Europe. Expecting a rise of nearly 10 percent in the overall revenue of hotels this year, UAE hoteliers see most of this increase coming from European tourists, especially from UK, Germany and Italy.
According to Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Western Europe, led by the UK, was ranked second in number of tourists visiting Dubai in 2015. The region brought in nearly 3 million tourists which translated to a significant rise of around 6.1 percent. This number is expected to further escalate in 2016.
Shujaudeen Nagimudeen, General Manager Cluster of RainTree group of hotels, told Emirates Business, “UAE gets a variety of visitors throughout the year. Due to its strategic geographic location, it gets its tourists from all across the world, but Europe still remains one of the most important markets for us. Europe’s close proximity with Emirates facilitates heavy influx of tourists.â€
Defying the predictions about a dip in number of European travellers coming to UAE, RainTree hotels, last month, hosted around 20 percent of its total guests alone from UK. While 12 percent were from Iran and UAE and around 8 percent from Saudi Arabia, Greece and Spain.
“Looking at the results of last month and the current booking-list for the Ramadan month, we are optimistic that Europe will be one of the main contributors in our summer revenues,†he said.
“Looking at the results of last month and the booking-list for the Ramadan, we are optimistic that Europe will be one of the main contributors in our summer revenues,†he said. Industry experts say that most of the Europeans will be staying more than week thereby further increasing the business for apartments or apart-hotels.
“Being one of the most extravagant spenders, European tourists prefer staying for longer durations when they come to UAE. There is a lot to keep them engaged for a week or so making it even more profitable especially for apartment hotels,†Adnan Habib, Senior Analyst at TheVoice, a Dubai-based research company told Emirates Business.
“There are always speculations before summers but UAE is so well positioned in tourism and hospitality that it always manages to glide away across the season.
Statistics are again pointing towards a good revenue
generation and Europe will lead the trend yet again,†Habib said.