TRI Hospitality Consulting conducted a HotStats survey which showed that UAE hotels had excellent improvement in performance in all the relevant indicators in January of 2012. The strong performance was partly attributed to increased tourism for the Dubai Shopping Festival.
According to the survey Dubai hotels outperformed the other MENA markets by a wide margin.
“The 2011 edition of DSF is estimated to have attracted 3.9 million visitors during the month. The figures for 2012 are yet to come through, but given the growth tend in visitor arrivals, these figures are likely to have grown substantially this year. The DSF has given a solid start to the year and I believe that Dubai hotels will continue to see strong performance levels during 2012,” Peter Goddard, managing director of TRI Hospitality Consulting in Dubai.
Abu Dhabi hotels showed double digit growth in the occupancy rate. At the same time the Average Room Rate (ARR) shows signs of slowing during January, according to the HotStats survey looking at full service hotels in six MENA cities.
The outlook for tourism in Egypt was not as bright as the survey by HotStates reported slower January performance in 2012 due to the continuation of political uncertainty which has a negative effect on business and leisure oriented visits. Cairo reported an occupancy rate of 36.8 percent compared to Abu Dabai’s rate of 74%.
Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula fared a bit better than Cairo with an occupancy rate of 50.2 percent, but not as good as last year’s rate, falling 18 percentage points lower.