Abu Dhabi witness GCC visitor growth

Abu Dhabi witnessed an increase in visitor arrivals from the GCC market in August. As per figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), there was a 144% increase in Saudi guests, a 140% increase from Kuwait, while those from Bahrain climbed 132%. Qatar and Oman also proved to be great source markets delivering respective guest increases of 59% and 82%. The released figures put Saudi Arabia as Abu Dhabi’s highest source market for the month outside the domestic arena. HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general, TCA Abu Dhabi said: “We are reaping the benefits of a concentrated campaign in the GCC spearheaded by our permanent regional office on-the-ground in Saudi Arabia. As we move into 2014 we will focus heavily on the messaging that Abu Dhabi is a luxury, yet highly affordable destination. We now have 146 resorts, hotels and hotel apartments to choose from and a room stock of 25,300.” Overall, 251,504 guests stayed in Abu Dhabi’s hotels and hotel apartments during August – a 37% increase on the same month last year with guest nights rising 36% to 709,148. Average-length-of-stay remained static at 2.82 nights but occupancy jumped 17% to 64%. Average room rate came in at Dhs363 ($100) – which nudged up 7% on August 2012. Total hotel revenues for the month shot up 32% to Dhs336.7m ($92.3m) with food & beverage income climbing 26% to Dhs125.6m ($35.5m). August’s performance means that in the first eight months of this year, 1,755,730 guests have stayed in Abu Dhabi – a 13% year-on-year increase. Guest nights over the yearly comparison have risen 25% to 5,480,742 with average-length-of-stay moving up 10% to 3.12 nights. Year-to-date occupancy moved up 8% to 68% while revenue climbed 17% to Dhs3.3bn ($902m) of which Dhs1.3bn ($353m) came from f&b income – a 16% lift on the first eight months of 2012. Average room rate dipped 2% to Dhs426 ($117). India retains its recent top slot in the emirate’s key overseas source market league with 107,223 Indians checking into Abu Dhabi hotels in the first eight months – a 23% hike on 2012. Indian arrivals delivered 434,554 guest nights which is up 34% year-on-year with the Indian visitor staying, on average, just over four nights. The UK is in second place with 96,923 Britons checking into Abu Dhabi – a 9% rise on 2012 – delivering 458,943 guest nights, which is up 21% – with British guests staying on average close to five nights. Germany comes in third with 74,382 guest arrivals – up by a quarter on last year and delivering 357,391 guest nights – an increase of a third with Germans again staying, on average, close to five nights. Source: Travel Daily