UAE has succeeded in attracting visitors to stay longer: either having long layovers for connections between Europe and the America with Asian destinations, or simply staying long to enjoy UAE as a full destination. Visitors that stayed 1 to 3 night still counted for 67% of all arrivals during the past moving year, but arrivals with stays longer than 3 nights grew faster than those stayed short.
ForwardKeys reveal that the fastest growing group is those who are staying between six to eight nights. 13th Arabian Hotel Investment Conference will reveal the details of the ForwardKeys analysis. Taking place in Dubai on April 25th-27th, organised by Bench Global Business Events, it is one of the most important travel event show of Dubai.
UK, USA, and Kuwait were the main feeders for visitors staying short (1-3 nights) and long (4-21 nights), while China made a significant contribution to the faster growth of visitors staying long, thanks to the visa on arrival for Chinese which started on November 1st 2016. UK, USA, and Kuwait contributed to the growth of both short-stay and long-stay travellers in UAE.
Forward looking April to June 2017, forward bookings for long stays are 28.3% ahead of last year because of the booming demand and the seasonal shift effect of Easter holidays in the European and US markets, while bookings for short stays are slightly behind last year, due to the quiet Ramadan month ahead.
Olivier Jager, chief executive, ForwardKeys, said: “These findings show significant progress in the UAE’s attractiveness as a destination and further potential advancement for the UAE economy.
