During the first nine months of the year, guest numbers across all hotel establishments (hotels and hotel apartments) was 7,941,118, a 9.8 percent increase year-on-year. Hotel room occupancy averaged 78.6 per cent over the nine month period, up 3.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2012 and hotel apartment occupancy also saw steady growth, up 7.3 per cent to 81 per cent, compared with 75.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2012.
Increasing the length of stay has been identified as a key driver of tourism growth within the Tourism Vision for 2020 and these results were also positive, with the average length of stay across hotels and hotel apartments between January and September rising 3.5 percent year-on-year to 3.9 days.
Hoteliers and hotel apartment operators experienced significant growth in revenues, with total revenues for the first nine months of the year up by 17.1 percent, to AED15.33billion. Total guest nights also recorded similarly impressive rises, up 13.7 percent to 30,874,916 from 27,163,974 in the first nine months of 2012.
