Abu Dhabi hotel occupancy boosted

Abu Dhabi's 127 hotels, hotel apartments and resorts generated Dh408 million ($111 million) in revenues in January, an increase of 11 per cent over January 2011. The number of guests staying in the hotels and resorts rose 29 per cent over the same month last year, according to the latest figures released by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority. Last month there were 198,139 guests, with the number of guest nights rising 20 per cent to 571,672. "The strong increase in guest arrivals and guest nights appears to have been significantly influenced by January's dynamic events calendar, which included the hosting of the Volvo Ocean Race and the fortnight of activities staged to coincide with it, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and the World Future Energy Summit, which attracted some 650 exhibiting companies to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre," Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, said. Stays are also likely to have benefited from increased air access to the destinations brought about by Etihad Airways' recent launch of its four-times-a-week service from Chengdu, China and Duesseldorf, Germany, and the start of Air Berlin's four weekly flights from its home base. Heightened competition "This is all promising news on which to start the year given that the past 12 months have seen considerable additions to the destination hotel room inventory. "Competition has heightened, yet new beachfront and golf course-fronting properties are significantly enhancing our leisure appeal," Al Muhairi added. "We also anticipate good results for February with the World Ophthalmology Congress having delivered significant bookings for the hospitality sector." Domestic tourism accounted for 18 per cent of January's hotel guests, with the GCC producing the strongest regional increase of 120 per cent in arrivals, primarily driven by a 218 per cent rise in guests from Saudi Arabia totalling 8,574, accounting for 18,415 guest nights . This raised the kingdom to fourth in Abu Dhabi's international guest rankings. Other GCC countries also proved good source markets, with guest arrivals from Qatar rising 69 per cent to 2,022 compared to January 2010 and those from Kuwait increasing 65 per cent to 1,541. Guest arrival from Oman climbed 57 per cent to 2,699 and those from Bahrain were up 45 per cent to 812. India maintained its ranking as the second largest international source market after the UK, with a 45 per cent rise in hotel guests to 10,924 delivering 37,559 guest nights, up 17 per cent month-on-month. Strategies to drive footfall "We are hopeful of further improving on arrivals from India, having recently hosted a major inbound familiarisation trip for a delegation from the Travel Agents Association of India, staged a five-city road show and completed a highly successful showing at the SATTE travel fair in New Delhi," Al Muhairi said. European guests increased 30 per cent over January 2010, with Germany turning in a strong 64 per cent increase to 9,204, making it Abu Dhabi's third largest international source market. The UK produced a 15 per cent increase to 13,005. China also returned a stellar increase — rising 235 per cent compared to the same month last year to 4,407 arrivals, 7,339 guest nights, and taking the country to eighth in the emirate's guest rankings.