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Despite the high supply of new rooms and a drop in occupancy rates during summer, Dubai’s hotel industry expects that the New Year celebrations across the city, which attract tourists worldwide, will give the industry a much-needed fillip.
Hoteliers said they are expecting occupancy levels to soar over the next several days.
From parties to concerts, themed dinners, light shows and fireworks displays, the emirate offers a host of attractions to entertain NYE travelers. A huge influx of tourists also come to Dubai around this time of year to enjoy the weather and celebrate Christmas.
Dubai is ranked the fourth most-visited city in the world by Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index, attracting 15.93 million international overnight visitors in 2018, just behind Bangkok, Paris and London.
“Dubai has enjoyed a reputation for being one of the best destinations to celebrate the New Year…The [high] influx of tourists in the UAE during the festive season is very high, thus we are expecting high occupancy throughout the festive period,” Miljana Zvicer, assistant hotel manager of the newly-opened Hyatt Place Dubai/Jumeirah, told Zawya.
Other hotels are more specific with their targets, with properties like Citymax Hotel in Bur Dubai, which caters to the affordable segment of the market, forecasting sold-out rooms.
“Dubai has always seen a drastic uptake in visitors over Christmas and New Year’s [so] we would definitely be at 100 percent occupancy,” said Rohit Sharma, general manager of Citymax Hotel Bur Dubai.
The hospitality sector has been seeing a decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR) as accelerating supply has forced hoteliers to lower or make their rates competitive in a bid to stimulate demand.
As of August, room supplies were up 7.6 percent, while the average occupancy declined by 0.2 percent to 68.5 percent and the revenue per available room slid to just 266.57 dirhams, according to STR analysts.
Dubai welcomed at least 12.08 million international visitors during the first nine months of the year, an increase of 4.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to the figures released by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
Hoteliers said the increase in tourist traffic, particularly from Asia, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, will certainly help boost their occupancy levels.
Sharma expects majority of their New Year’s Eve guests from India and Russia. “The inbound traffic from these regions is due to the proximity to the beach and The Dubai Mall, the fireworks display on New year’s Eve and the Dubai Shopping Festival,” Sharma added.
At the Hyatt Place, most of the visitors will come from the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, said Zvicer.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
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© ZAWYA 2019
