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Dubai’s tourism sector is recovering at a robust pace, supported by a successful start to Expo 2020, and very effective COVID-19 management that has seen the number of new cases drop to below 100 per day, said Emirates NBD in a report.
"Much of the data released reflects a very solid recovery across nearly all metrics of the tourism sector, and we expect the following months to reflect similar stamina, so long as global Covid-19 headwinds remain contained," said Shady Elborno, Head of Macro Strategy at the bank.
Since the event began on October 1, 2021 visitor numbers have crossed four million by this week, according to Expo officials.
This is testified by the fact that hotel occupancy in Dubai surged to 80.7 percent in October from 67.2 percent in September and 58 percent in August according to data by STR Global.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 54 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) in October after rising 10.2 percent m-o-m in September and 9.5 percent in August, marking the third straight m-o-m rise in that metric.
The tourism sector is benefiting from a combination of factors lead by Expo 2020, improving Covid-19 metrics, a pick-up in international tourism footfall, and a busy schedule of events and conferences.
"Those factors are likely to continue to support the tourism market into the first quarter of next year, helping place the market back onto a more normalized footing after the impact of the pandemic on this economically important sector," the report noted.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
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