Dubai beach hotels record 97% occupancy during second week of August

Five-star beach hotels recorded 97% occupancy, while five-star city hotels posted 76% occupancy during the second week of August. Four-star hotels recorded 81% occupancy.

Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, Director General of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said Dubai hotel industry received 3.85 million guests in the first half of 2009, a 5% increase compared with the same period last year.

He said Dubai presently has 58,147 hotel rooms (40,943 hotel rooms and 17,204 hotel apartment rooms), which is 17% increase compared with the last year's figure of 49,656 hotel rooms.

He said the department organised a number of promotional and marketing programmes to strengthen tourism in the summer season. One of the programmes is a campaign that was launched on July 1 in cooperation with the hotels and shopping malls in the emirate. This campaign targeted several markets and focused on GCC countries. It will continue until September 20.

Mr. bin Sulayem said Dubai's performance was the best among the results of other tourist destinations considering the challenges that travel and tourism sector experienced due to the economic downturn and Swine Flu and restrictions imposed due to H1N1. However, Dubai continues to maintain its strong position due to the efforts made by both the public and private sectors and due to the varied tourism product offering available in the emirate.