Emirate welcomed more then 4 million hotel guests this year, reflecting a 9 per cent increase and 67,369 rooms with a 16 per cent increase.

Hotel revenues reach AED 6.9 billion with a 6 per cent increase and 7 per cent increase in number of hotels

21.5 million hotel nights with an 18 per cent increase compared to corresponding period last year

 UK accounts for most number of guests among global countries while KSA tops list among Arab countries

A recent report released by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) shows that Dubai has achieved significant growth in terms of hotel occupancy and tourism arrivals in the first half of 2010 (January through June).

Khaled Ahmed bin Sulayem, Director General of DTCM, said that despite the challenging conditions faced by the global tourism industry last year, Dubai was still able to achieve impressive results in terms of tourist arrivals, hotel revenues and tourism related events.     

Statistics from DTCM show that the number of hotels operating in Dubai has reached 566, representing a 7 per cent increase from 530 last year, while hotel rooms reached 67,369, indicating a 16 per cent increase from 58,188 rooms last year.
 
Hotel revenues by the end of the first half of 2010 reached AED 6,888,477, representing a 6 per cent increase over the first half of 2010, during which revenues reached AED 6,519,691.

Bin Sulayem congratulated the private sector in Dubai for this achievement and said that "this would not have been possible without their sincere efforts and cooperation, especially given the challenges faced by the global tourism industry in general."
 
Statistics issued by the Department referred to the 18 per cent increase in the number of tourist nights, which reached 12,462,209 nights compared to 10,541,955 during the same period last year.
 
Hotels sustained their occupancy rate of 71.7 per cent despite the increase in the number of hotel rooms. Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of hotel apartments increased from 67.2 per cent last year to 68.8 per cent this year; representing a 2 per cent increase.

Figures show that total Arab guests in Dubai reached 1, 216, 024 or an increase of 10 per cent from 1,110, 088 last year.
 
There were 494,309 guests from the GCC, registering a 20 per cent growth from 412,145 during the same period last year. Guests from other Arab countries reached 338,532, rising by 3 per cent from 329,599 in the first half last year.
 
The number of Asian guests increased by 17 per cent to reach 1,059,096 compared with 902,878 in the same period last year.
 
European guests reached 1,254,518, increasing by 3 per cent over last year's 1,216,415.

Hotel guests from the Americas reached 334,984 compared with 312,904 during last year's first half, representing a 7 per cent increase.
 
Guests from Australia and Pacific countries reached 100,077, with a 7 per cent increase from 93,159 last year.
 
There were no remarkable changes in the number of African guests, which reached 216,626 in the first half of 2010.
 
UK had the most number of guests coming to Dubai in the first half of this year as the country accounted for 382,356 guests, while KSA came first among Arab countries with 227,382 guests.