According to data released by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), hotels and hotel apartments had a record high number of guests in the month of November. Fueling the rise in hotel stays was the third Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Guests Going Up
The rise to 206,748 guests for the month of November represents a 22% increase over the same month last year. It is also only the second time in two years that the number of guests went beyond 200,000 for a one month time frame.
November’s statistics adds to the positive results for the entire year of 2011. The first eleven months of 2011 saw 1,903,888 guests staying in Abu Dhabi hotels and hotel apartments. That is a 16% increase over the same eleven months of 2010. Also showing marked improvement was the total number of guest-nights, coming to 5,694,140 in total, a jump of 23% since last year.
And Going Up Some More
Analysts expect that December 2011 will show equally strong numbers, especially since the 40th National Day celebration as well as the Volvo Ocean Race helps to escort the year 2011 out. These events are hopefully going to help Abu Dhabi achieve there yearlong goal of having at least 2 million guests staying in their hotels. As of now they are only 97,000 stays away from achieving this milestone.
“Without putting the horse before the cart, we are confident that we will surpass our stretch target for the year,” said Lawrence Franklin, ADTA’s strategy and policy director. “This represents a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the emirate’s tourism industry and is based upon the ongoing collaborative efforts and achievements of our stakeholders to ensure Abu Dhabi realizes its potential.”