UAE to add nearly 32,000 new hotel rooms: Report

The UAE hospitality industry will continue to see addition of more hotels over the next four years, with the Emirates adding 120 hotels and nearly 32,000 rooms to cater to the growing number of guests.

Research firm Business Monitor International said it’s highly optimistic about the UAE's tourism industry as the country is planning significant increases in the national hotel room supply, while airport capacity is also set to increase rapidly.

According to BMI statistics, the UAE hospitality sector looks set to grow in tandem with tourist arrivals with an extra 120 hotels and accommodation establishments to be built by 2018. This will equate to about 31,810 extra rooms for the overall national supply, reflecting the large size of many new hotels currently under construction across the emirates.

A number of new hotel development projects will be announced during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) being held in Dubai next week. The 21st edition of ATM will be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 5 to 8 with participation of more than 2,500 exhibitors receiving 21,000 trade visitors.

Major projects under construction in the UAE include Madinat Jumeirah’s Phase Four extension, which is scheduled for completion in 2016; 667-room Millennium Bab Al Qasr hotel in Abu Dhabi, which is slated to open in the second quarter of next year; 753-room Damac Towers by Paramount will open by the end of 2016; 863-room The Westin Dubai, part of Habtoor Palace; and 474-room Sheraton Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Occupancy rates, according to BMI, will also remain strong, above 70 per cent across its forecast period to 2018 and underlining the strong demand for accommodation in the UAE.

STR Global’s statistics showed the UAE hotel occupancy rate increased 1.1 per cent to 84 per cent in March 2014 as against same month last year while revenues per average room (RevPar) also rose 0.9 per cent to Dh732.67.

“For 2014, we forecast 8.3 per cent growth in arrivals from all regions, with tourism receipts set to rise by around 9.4 per cent in US dollar terms,” it said.

Looking at inbound tourism flows to the UAE by region, the Middle East looks set to remain the largest single source market, with its share of total arrivals set to remain stable around 30 per cent.

“Taking a greater market share over our forecast period is the Asia Pacific region, with arrivals set to rise from 2.9 million in 2014 to 4 million in 2018. This reflects the growing wealth of Asia, coupled with increased business travel and significant numbers of expatriate workers coming to UAE from nations such as India and Pakistan. China also is expected to prove an increasingly important source market for inbound tourism,” BMI said.

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.