Dubai tourist high during Eid

Dubai accounted for the lion’s share of tourist flows to Arab destinations during the recent Eid Al Fitr holiday. Family tourism has witnessed a considerable growth supported by wide range of tourist attractions in Dubai including, leisure and top of the line services, high-quality and wide diversity of tourist facilities that suit different segments of visitors and meet requirements of all age groups.

The bulk of foreign tourists descending on Dubai during Eid were from Gulf countries, mainly due to the geographical proximity and facilities offered by the UAE to visitors via land, sea and air ports. The number of visitors from the rest of the Arab countries has increased significantly with Dubai’s growing competitiveness in the tourism sector in light of the ambitious vision of the emirate to further enhance contribution of the sector in the its domestic economy.

Announced earlier this year under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and spearheaded by Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020 sets out how the city will double its annual visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020 and will treble the annual economic contribution made by the tourism sector.

Statistics issued by the DTCM showed that Dubai hotels of different categories experienced high demand during the three-day Eid holiday as the combined average occupancy level in hotels and deluxe hotel apartments in the Emirate rose to 86 per cent, confirming that Dubai is on the right track towards achieving its vision for the future of the tourism sector as a vital tributary of its economy. Anecdotal evidence from Dubai’s malls also indicates a highly successful period, with many retailers reporting record footfalls and high spend.

Dubai's success in attracting those numbers of visitors at this time of the year known to be the slowest tourist season - due to high summer temperatures in the Gulf region in general - is a strong indicator of the effectiveness of the approach the emirate is adopting in maximizing tourism yield and its impact on supporting the economy.

20 million tourists

Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director-General of Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing Department said: “The figures for the Eid-Al-Fitr weekend are encouraging and indicate further progress towards achieving our Tourism Vision for 2020. Having recently announced Dubai’s first half tourism results – with total visitor numbers exceeding 5.5 million from January to June 2013 – we are on track for this year’s targets and making strong inroads into achieving our medium- and long-term aims. 

"That we should be recording such strong results during the hottest months of the year, when visitor numbers have typically been at their lowest, indicates that our strategy of targeted marketing and building our family tourism offering is meeting with a positive response from travellers. There is no doubt that this year’s highly successful Summer is Dubai campaign has played a critical role.”

Guest numbers across five, four and three star hotels showed a busy Eid weekend with average occupancy levels of 75 per cent, 77 per cent and 87 per cent respectively from 8-10 August, whilst deluxe hotel apartments recorded an average occupancy level of 86 per cent for the same period. Guest numbers across all hotels were equally strong, five star hotels received 32,325 guests; four star hotels recorded a total of 18,749 guests; three star hotels saw some 14,836 guests over the Eid weekend and deluxe hotel apartments recorded 10,782 guests for the same period.

Occupancy rates immediately following the holiday weekend remained high – in fact there was a slight increase in occupancy on Sunday 11 August over Saturday 10 August, which had been the busiest night of the Eid weekend. Sunday hotel and hotel apartment combined occupancy averaged 89 per cent overall – with 80 per cent occupancy for five-star, 87 per cent for four-star and 95 per cent for three-star hotels respectively, and 93 per cent for deluxe hotel apartments.

 These unseasonably high occupancy levels were attained despite increased availability of hotel rooms. The total number of hotels and hotel apartments in Dubai stood at 603 at 31 June 2013 offering a total of 81,492 rooms – up from 583 properties offering a total of 76,008 rooms at the end of June 2012.

Visitors to Dubai across the Eid Weekend came from the usual wide range of source markets, with the GCC providing more than 42,000 visitors, Europe more than 13,500, and Asia more than 11,500. Other visitors came from the United States, Australasia and Africa.

Emirates airline

Emirates Airlines’ statistics showed a significant increase in the number of passengers on board its flights to Dubai International Airport during the Eid holiday from around the world. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Senior Vice President, Emirates Airline’s Commercial Operations for the Middle East, the Gulf and Iran, has revealed that the number of passengers during the holiday has seen a strong increase exceeding 18 per cent.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla said:  "Evidenced by occupancy of seats on Emirates flights, which rates more than 80% over the year, the flow of visitors to Dubai has become regular and in continuous growth, with booms seen on certain occasions, such as holidays, major events, exhibitions, conferences and international sports competitions.”

“This year’s Eid Al Fitr holiday witnessed an increase by 18% in the number of visitors who came to Dubai from the various Emirates’ stations Emirates via its world network, as compared to the same period last year. Booking records illustrate that the average length of stay across all hotels and hotel apartments in Dubai during this holiday, especially families, revolves around seven days," He added.

GCC Countries recorded the highest growth in the number of tourists who came to Dubai during Eid Al Fitr holiday. The city of Jeddah, KSA led the source markets in terms of growth, with visitor numbers on Emirates climbing 12 per cent compared to the same period of last year. Kuwait came second with growth percentage of eight percent followed by London with seven percent growth in terms of passengers flying to Dubai on Emirates from Heathrow Airport.

Prompted by the increased demand, Emirates increased number of flights to some destinations. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla said: "We have run a number of additional flights before and during the holiday to meet the great demand for travel to Dubai. We have allocated additional six flights to fly visitors from Jeddah, and four flights from Kuwait and two from Riyadh."

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla concluded: “Emirates still operates to achieve the objectives which it was created for, including linking Dubai and the United Arab Emirates with its major trading partners, attracting and developing new partners, in addition  to contributing to promoting Dubai's position as a regional hub for trade and tourism, as well as  providing better services to each destination".

Variety of options

Dubai’s attractiveness, especially for family tourism, is enhanced by the great diversity of options for visitors in terms of recreation and entertainment as the city offers ways to enjoy the holiday for all members of the family including a variety of activities and events that suit different age groups.

Dubai has always been renowned for "Shopping" thanks to top of the line shopping centres that compete with finest malls in the East and the West. However, shopping - despite topping the priorities of visitors to Dubai – is no longer the only element of encouragement to visit the emirate, which now has many icons  which stimulate the appetite of tourists to come specially to visit, such as "Burj Khalifa", the highest building in the world, "Burj Al Arab", the world ‘s highest world-class luxury hotel, and the "Palm Island" that can be seen from space, in addition to the great interest in traditional and historic  attractions for visitors who desire to familiarise themselves with Gulf culture in general and the UAE’s in particular.

In addition to the elements of attractions, safety and security is one of the most important ingredients necessary for the tourists in choosing a destination where they will spend the holiday in. Dubai is one of the most secure and safest destinations where visitors and their families can spend their holidays thanks to tolerant Emirati society characterised by harmony and social peace with more than 200 nationalities living in complete harmony.

UAE policy of interfaith is a message of love and peace to all countries of the world which renders the spirit of brotherhood and love. "World Happiness Report" issued by the United Nations showed that the UAE tops the list of happiest Arab countries. This is truly felt by visitors during their stay in Dubai.

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