Eid holidaymakers check into UAE hotels

dubai - Influx of domestic and foreign guests to hit UAE for long weekend

Hotels in the UAE are expected to see high occupancy during Eid as regional and domestic guests have made advance bookings to spend the long weekend in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other emirates.

Hoteliers are set to welcome an influx of holiday makers during Eid and expect occupancy levels to hover above 90 per cent during the last week of Ramadan and Eid.

"Our forecast indicates that the property will witness a high occupancy ranging above 90 per cent on Eid. We enjoyed a high occupancy level of 75 per cent for the entire month of Ramadan, considered to be one of the highest occupancy in the city," Moussa El Hayek, chief operating officer, Al Bustan Centre and Residence, told Khaleej Times.

"In comparison with last year, we are expecting the performance to be better by 10 to 15 per cent," he added.

Khaled Sharabassy, general manager, Tilal Liwa Hotel, expects 100 per cent occupancy at his property on Eid due to the long weekend. "We are forecasting full occupancy during this period due to the long Eid holidays," he said.

To a question, he said Eid bookings are mainly generated from the local market through the website. "We recently introduced Eid holiday deals on social buying sites, which is the main source of bookings during the festive period," Sharabassy told Khaleej Times.

Mohammed Khoory, general manager, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments, said foreign tourists will lift occupancy at the property during Eid and the long weekend.

"We expect to close occupancy at around 80 per cent on Eid," he said, adding that majority of guests who made bookings are foreign tourists coming to celebrate Eid in Dubai.

"We have a mix of nationalities, with GCC, UK and Indian guests currently making up the majority," Khoory said.

According to official statistics released by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), occupancy across hotel establishments in Dubai averaged 85 per cent in the first quarter, down from 86 per cent recorded in the same quarter a year ago. In the first quarter, Dubai accounted for 4.1 million overnight visitors, a year-on-year growth of 5.1 per cent.

The latest HotStats survey indicated that hotels in Dubai maintained occupancy at 87 per cent in the first four months of 2016 due to a significant drop in average room rates. An EY hotel benchmark report last week reported that Dubai hotels recorded an average occupancy of 86 per cent, followed by 81 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 74.2 per cent in Ras Al Khaimah.

"Knowing the traffic that comes to Dubai during summer, we are looking forward to a good number of holiday makers. Summer has become livelier with events and activities along with Dubai Summer Surprises which will help hoteliers," said El Hayek of Al Bustan Centre and Residence.

During summer, he said visitors to his property are from the local market and from nearby emirates.

"We are one of the preferred hotel apartments in Dubai and we usually enjoy a very good traffic from GCC countries for summer as well as during Eid," he said.

In reply to a question, he said a wave of tourists from GCC countries and India are expected to head to the UAE in time for Eid.

Referring to Dubai Tourism data, he said around 1.3 million tourists, including 587,000 people coming from Saudi Arabia (up by 13 per cent) and 428,000 visitors from Oman (up by 30 per cent), visited Dubai during the first four months of this year.

"We will see positive movement, especially during the last 10 days of Ramadan and in the run-up to Eid Al Fitr coupled with long local holidays.
We are expecting a very healthy occupancy of 90 per cent and above this Eid onwards throughout the summer due to school holidays," El Hayek concluded.

- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com