Abu Dhabi sees 4% uplift in hotel guests for July

Abu Dhabi achieved a four per cent uplift in hotel guests last month, compared to July 2016, with almost 400,000 guests pushing the cumulative total for the first seven months of the year to over 2.6 million.
This is a growth of seven per cent on the year, according to figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).
The latest report shows that 396,548 guests checked into the emirate's 164 hotels and hotel apartments in July delivering 928,502 guest nights. Hotel revenues for the month were Dh327 million from a total of almost 33,000 available rooms.
All three regions of the emirate - Abu Dhabi city, Al Ain, and Al Dhafra - posted guest arrival increases on the back of strong domestic tourism visitors from within the UAE, with these 138,273 arrivals accounting for 35 per cent of all monthly visits. Double-digit growth from key tier one markets of the UK and USA, up 28.5 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, reflect an upsurge in summer demand, with China's phenomenal expansion continuing unabated, posting a monthly comparable increase of 87 per cent.
"The launch of a full programme of Abu Dhabi Summer Season events has helped underpin these figures," said Saif Saeed Ghobash, director general, TCA Abu Dhabi. "July's growth in visitors from China, UK, and USA, and the month's UAE visitor arrivals total of 138,000 is encouraging and compares favourably when adjusted to take into account the Eid A Fitr boost contained in the July 2016 figures. India and Saudi Arabia continue to perform well. Though there is still additional ground to cover, we have to consider the advances that are being made against the backdrop of a destination which has seen a nine per cent increase in hotel room inventory this year compared to last."
All three regions posted guest arrival growth, with Al Dhafra up 16 per cent on the back of the hugely popular Liwa Date Festival. The July performance means that Abu Dhabi received 2,677,953 hotel guests in the first seven months of the year - a seven per cent rise on the same period in 2016 with the arrivals translated into 6.8 million guest nights from an average occupancy and length of stay of 69 per cent and 2.54 nights respectively.
"With a prevalence for longer summer stays in 4- and 5-star hotels and superior quality hotel apartments, as well as a tendency to travel in larger family groups, we anticipate an increased number of Saudis will be attracted by the emirate's summer offers and activities," explained Ghobash.
- business@khaleejtimes.com