Abu Dhabi has not halted the issuance of new hotel licences in the capital of the United Arab Emirates but will be selective in the number it issues, a tourism official said on Sunday.

'We have not completely stopped issuing licences.  We still receive applications and are studying them on a case-by-case basis,' Naser Al-Riyami, director, tourism standards division at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Tourism & Culture said.

'We have our criteria for licensing,' he told Reuters by phone.

Alroya al-Eqtisadiya, a local newspaper reported on Sunday that Abu Dhabi will not issue new hotel licences in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, citing Al-Riyami.

'That report is not correct,' said Al-Riyami, adding there are areas in Abu Dhabi and nearby where hotels need to be built, citing Saadiyat Island as one.

Across the oil-rich state, which accounts for more than half of the United Arab Emirates' economy, government-backed real estate, commercial and tourism projects, many conceived during the boom years of 2003-2008, are under review and in some cases being delayed or put on hold.

The average room rate in Abu Dhabi dropped 14 per cent to about Dh450 ($122.5) in 2011, the paper said, as four thousand new rooms came online -- bringing the total number of hotel rooms to almost 23,000 in the capital.

The UAE is seen as a safe haven for tourism in the Middle East, where popular uprisings toppled three governments in 2011 and spurred the transition of a fourth Arab government earlier this year.

Abu Dhabi's tourism authority posted 6.5-per cent growth in guest arrivals last year, as new hotels and an increase in Arab tourists from the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf brought the number of hotel guests to 2.11 million in 2011. – Reuters