Abu Dhabi Hotels Witness Record Month In October

Abu Dhabi witnessed its highest monthly guest intake across its 148 hotels last October, rising 29 per cent on the same period last year.

The UAE capital also revealed over 2.2 million people checked into its hotels in the first 10 months of the year, a 16 per cent rise on the same period in 2012.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (ABTCA) put the total number of arrivals this year at 2,270,000 with guest nights rising 26 per cent year-on-year to over 7 million.

October saw 288,268 guests check into the emirate’s hotels with a 79 per cent occupancy rate, up 10 per cent on a year earlier, and a revenue stream of Dhs578.4 million, which was 28 per cent higher than October 2012.

“October benefitted from the Eid break and from a series of major events staged throughout the emirate,” said HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general, ABTCA.

“We can look forward with quiet optimism to a year-end of similar, if not better performance given that November had a number of event highlights, not least the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and December should benefit from the traditional National Day and seasonal breaks and increased overseas product packaging.

“We have positive sentiment for end-of-year results given that we are within comfortable reach of our 2.5 million guest target.”

Occupancy rates for the 10 months have risen nine per cent on 2012 to 69 per cent, with total revenues jumping 19 per cent to almost Dhs4.3 billion.

Domestic tourism has risen four per cent in the first 10 months of 2013 with 778,113 guests delivering 1,792,751 guest nights, an increase of 28 per cent, and an average-length-of-stay of 2.3 nights, up 23 per cent.

“People are staying longer in the emirate which is a key feature of our promotions and marketing thrust,” said Al Muhairi.

“There is far more to see and do in Abu Dhabi and we want guests to experience as much as possible.

India remains the Abu Dhabi’s largest overseas source market with 140,786 Indians checking into the emirate – a 26 per cent rise compared to January-October 2012.

“We are looking to build this market further and in December will roll out our biggest road show delegation to India with 25 stakeholders joining in,” Al Muhairi said.