Dubai tourism bullish

Dubai’s travel industry is experiencing a bullish trend this Ramadan, up by 18 per cent over that of 2010 mostly traceable to special airfare packages. Emirates spokesperson said that Emirates bookings from Dubai during the month of Ramadan are strong, with the airline witnessing a marked increase in bookings when compared with last year. “This increase is a result of a number of factors, notably Ramadan falling within the full month of August in addition to our increased capacity and a number of new route launches, including Copenhagen on August 1,” he added. Etihad’s performance during this summer continues to be in line with its projections, a spokesperson of the airline commented, “We have witnessed a double digit growth during this period.” The spokesperson said that there has been a huge demand for travel to and from Europe, Asia and Australia. Importantly, not only did Dubai’s hotels welcome more tourists, but visitors also stayed for significantly longer than they did last year, with an 18 percent rise in the number of nights rooms were occupied. These figures suggest that Dubai is well on its way to eclipsing last year’s 6.1 million hotel guests. Tourism accounts for around 19 percent of the emirate’s GDP at present, and this will likely increase in line with visitor numbers going forward. Ghassan Aridi, the CEO of inbound operator Alpha Tours, who says Dubai, is now an affordable luxury destination, “People are travelling for entertainment and comfort, a nice hotel, good food, a spa, shopping. This is what people are looking for and Dubai has this. It’s an asset that will help the industry pick up again.” Given the performance of the tourism sector during the global recession and its strong bounce-back in the wake of the downturn, the emirate looks well placed to cash in on the investments it has made to support the tourist trade in the years ahead.