Dubai’s hotel establishments welcomed 11,629,578 guests in 2014, registering a 5.6 per cent increase on 2013’s total. Figures released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) show steady year-on-year growth and significant increases across key indicators including hotel establishment revenues and guest nights. The figures for 2014 indicate that Dubai is continuing to maintain growth at a sustainable level, while also growing its portfolio of hotels and hotel apartment establishments, thus taking another step closer to achieving its Tourism Vision for 2020, which aims to welcome 20 million visitors a year by 2020.
Dubai’s top ten hotel guest source markets in 2014 remained almost entirely unchanged from 2013, with only slight shifts in positioning. For January to December 2014, Saudi Arabia was the top source market, followed by India, UK, USA, Iran, Oman, China, Kuwait, Russia and Germany.
Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, DTCM commented, “The 2014 figures demonstrate healthy year-on-year growth for hotel establishment guest numbers with significant increases from Asia, Africa and Western Europe. The 5.6 per cent increase in the number of hotel guests occurred despite the decrease in the number of Russian visitors – a result of the current geopolitical situation and the decrease in the value of the Ruble. Due to the long-held strategy and collaborative commitment between DTCM and our partners to diversify our inbound markets, Dubai’s tourism industry is insulated from any short-term fluctuations within any one market, and in 2015 we will continue to work with our partners to increase market share from newer markets.”
