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Abu Dhabi’s summer campaign
targets more guests.

Abu Dhabi hotel guests up 12pc in May

Abu Dhabi, July 2, 2012

The hotels and hotel apartments in Abu Dhabi continued their guest nights momentum receiving 12 per cent more guests this May compared to last year, according to a report.

Some 192,374 guests stayed in the emirate’s accommodation during the period, accounting for 542,567 guest nights, up 7 per cent over May last year, revealed the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in its  monthly figures.

The total hotel revenue climbed 3 per cent to hit Dh360 million ($98 million), the report stated.

Food and beverage accounted for Dh151.3 million registering a month-on-month increase of 14 per cent - while room revenue over the same period decreased 4 per cent to Dh167.3 million ($45.5 million).

Reflecting increased room supply throughout the emirate – the number of rooms available has risen 13 per cent since May last year, the TCA Abu Dhabi data said.

However, the hotel occupancy during the month fell 8 per cent compared to last year. The average length of stay too decreased 4 per cent to reach 2.82 days, it added.

“Average length of stay is a key performance indicator we are now actively addressing through our intensive 'Summer in Abu Dhabi' campaign. By offering a range of discounted activities and family-orientated entertainment programmes, we are providing more incentives to guests to visit the emirate and stay for longer,” remarked Mubarak Al Muhairi, the director general, TCA Abu Dhabi.

“We are closely monitoring this programme’s performance to identify areas of key appeal and improvement so that we can continue - with widespread stakeholder support - to build on the destination’s overall value-for-money proposition,” he added.

According to Al Muhairi, the May results leave Abu Dhabi well placed to achieve its 2012 hotel guest target of 2.3 million, with TCA Abu Dhabi anticipating gradual pick up from the US and Saudi Arabian markets over the coming months following its recent openings of dedicated offices in New York and Jeddah.

“In both countries we are now engaging with the outbound travel trade to produce significant packaging around stays of five nights and more,” he explained.

So far this year, Abu Dhabi has received 984,045 guests, up 14 per cent increase on the first five months of last year. The guest nights over the same period have risen 8 per cent to 2,834,886, said the data from TCA Abu Dhabi.

The year-to-date occupancy stands at 66 per cent, down 7 per cent over last year - though revenue has risen two per cent to stand at Dh2 billion.

Domestic tourism, said Al Muhairi, continued to perform well posting a 47 per cent growth over last year, while inbound GCC guests jumped 20 per cent. Guests from Asia rose 33 per cent and Europe turned in a 15 per cent growth.

'The GCC’s guest performance increase was primarily driven by an influx of Qataris (35 per cent), followed by Kuwaitis (20 per cent) and Saudi Arabians (19 per cent),' said the top official.

Asia’s guest performance was largely due to growth from China (137 per cent), the Philippines (71 per cent), and India (38 per cent), while growth from Europe was spearheaded by growth from Germany (45 per cent), he added.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Saudi | India | Kuwait | Europe | growth | F&B | Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority | emirate. hotel guest |

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