Dubai’s hospitality sector is forecast to experience strong, sustained growth over the coming years, with occupied room nights set to reach 35.5 million annually in 2019, representing a robust 10.2 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next 24 months.
According to a comprehensive study of the market by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), the emirate’s room supply is set to reach 132,000 by the end of 2019, growing at a 2-year (2017-2019) CAGR of 11.1 per cent. Meanwhile, occupancy levels are forecast to remain at an extremely healthy 76-78 per cent despite growth in capacity, maintaining the attractiveness of the sector to hotel investors and developers. The strong competitiveness of the sector is set to continue to be fuelled by increases in Dubai’s growing international overnight visitation and targeted increases in length of stays.
“Dubai’s hotel industry remains at the forefront of cross-sector efforts to drive tourism growth, as we collectively work towards realising our Tourism Vision and enable our 2020 goals. Dubai’s position as the fourth most visited city in the world, and the consistent growth in overnight visitation, has been achieved in large part thanks to the efforts of our committed stakeholders in the domestic hotel and hospitality sector,” Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai Tourism said and hoped to see the sustained growth in inventory in line with the projected demand for occupied nights.
At the end of 2017, Dubai’s hotel inventory stood at 107,431 rooms, with growth of 4 per cent over the course of the year, and occupancy at a healthy and stable 78 per cent despite capacity increase owing to the 6.2 per cent growth in overnight visitors to 15.79 million.
