Dubai hotel guests cross 5.5m in nine months: Report

DUBAI: Dubai's tourism industry is surging ahead with the hotels registering 5,991,660 guests in the first nine months of 2010, reflecting a 6 per cent increase compared to the 5,640,703 guests during the corresponding period last year.

Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing ( DTCM) has said that these figures show progress of Dubai's tourism sector during the first nine months of 2010. The number of hotel facilities currently active in Dubai reached 565 compared to 533 in the same period last year, marking a 6 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, DTCM has also launched an international campaign to promote the "Definitely Dubai" initiative, aiming to market the Emirate's tourist attractions across the world in collaboration with major international tourism companies.

Statistics also indicate that the number of tourist reservations for the first three quarters of 2010 reached 18,731,478 compared to 16,378,422 during the same period of 2009, marking a 14 per cent increase.

Also, the number of hotel rooms and hotel apartments increased during the first three quarters of 2010 by 16 per cent; from 59,372 rooms and hotel apartments in the first three quarters of last year to 68,654 this year.

Hotel occupancy rates were steady for the first nine months of this year and were almost identical to the occupancy rates achieved during the same period last year.