Dubai hotels start to levy fee to finance Expo 2020

Dubai starts on Monday to impose a new fee, which is called the tourism dirham, on all hotel guests per room per night, ranging from 1.90 U.S. dollars to 5.50 dollars. According to the fee scheme, five-star luxury resorts in Dubai will raise 20 dirham (5.50 dollars) per room per night, while four- star and three-star hotels will add 15 dirham (4.10 dollars) and 10 dirham (2.72 dollars) respectively. Two-star and one-star budget hotel will also levy 7 or 10 dirham (1.9 dollars) per night. The move comes only four months after Dubai won the bid to host World Expo in 2020 as the first Arab country. Helal Saeed Almarri, general director of Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said the introduction of the tourism dirham will support DTCM "helping to ensure our continued competitiveness on the global stage which will be reflected positively on the growth of our two economic pillars -- trade and tourism." In 2013, 611 hotels in Dubai hosted 11 million tourists, compared to 9.96 million in 2012. Dubai aims to double the number of tourists to 20 million by 2020. For this objective the ruling Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al- Maktoum has ordered the construction of 100 hotels in a newly planned city which is named after him.