The number of operating hotel establishments increased by 42 per cent, while the Dubai hotels and hotel apartments guests increased phenomenally by 228 per cent in the same period, 1996-2006.

The number of hotel guests rose to 6.3 million in the year 2006 from 1.9 million guests in 1996. The number of operating hotel establishments in the year 2006 was 415, up from 293 in 1996.

Ms. Sumaya Karam, DTCM Executive One Stop Information Centre (OSIC), said the OSIC was established in the year 1991 and since then it has been working towards the objective of becoming an efficient, effective and reliable provider of information about Dubai .

Currently, OSIC has over 1000 list of information and over 650 sheet of statistical information, a majority of them available online at the DTCM website www.dubaitourism.ae/statistics.

She said the OSIC customers include investors, businessmen, traders, tourism companies, research organizations, diplomatic missions, tourists and public and private sector organizations.

A total of 14,000 enquiries have been handled by the OSIC in the year 2006. The OSIC, staffed mostly by UAE nationals, also has reports and studies on tourism and other topics done by other government departments and research organizations.

The information centre updates information available with it regularly to ensure a high degree of accuracy.

She said the department is the licensing authority for hotels, hotel apartments, tour guides and tourism companies.

It oversees the development and expansion of the tourism industry in the emirate and work towards attracting tourists to Dubai from different parts of the world through participation in overseas travel exhibitions and road shows and networking with the travel trade.

It has a network of 15 overseas representative offices in different parts of the world.