Abu Dhabi guest arrivals surge 17% in 2015 to almost 2m

Guest arrivals into Abu Dhabi in the first six months of the year reached more than 1.98 million, a rise of 17% on the corresponding period in 2014.

Figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, TCA Abu Dhabi, reveal that guests who arrived during that time generated 5,728,765 guest nights in the emirate's 163 hotel and hotel apartments, an increase of 11% on the previous year.

Total revenue for hotel establishments recorded an 8% increase to Dh3.346 billion (US$ 911 million), room revenue increased by 11%, food and beverage revenue increased by 1%, while other revenues - which includes services such as venue hire and business events - rose 22% to Dh402 million (US$ 110 million).

June 2015 showed an increase of 2% in hotel guests when compared to June of last year, with the 268,335 hotel guest arrivals generating an exceptional leap in guest nights of 13% to 870,304.

"We set ourselves a challenging guest arrivals target of 3.9 million hotel guests for this year, which we are very confident of achieving, especially given that our highly impressive half-year figures show double digit growth," said Jasem Al Darmaki, Acting Director-General, TCA Abu Dhabi.

"We remain committed to actively improving the average length of stay of our guests which has fallen by 5% over the comparable period in 2014. We have a series of high-profile events coming up to entice our guests to spend more time here, including our new extended 2015/16 season of Abu Dhabi Classics, the annual F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Art, and anticipate the traditionally strong second half of the year performance will pull average length of stay back up closer to three nights," he added.

The findings also show that India has regained its spot as Abu Dhabi's largest international source market, seeing 127,312 Indian nationals arriving into the emirate, an increase of 18%, spending an average 3.71 nights each, well above the overall average of 2.89 nights, it said.

India is closely followed by the UK, China, Germany and the United States as the largest overseas markets, with the Philippines providing 63,855 guest arrivals, recording a 24% rise. Other counties in the top ten include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.

Chinese guest numbers rose 72% year-on-year, with 102,217 guest arrivals delivering 148,842 guest nights, although their length of stay dropped by 18% to 1.46 nights.

Russian guests showed the largest drop, by 10%, to 14,453 guest arrivals, which the authority says could be attributable to difficult economic conditions in Russia. In an effort to stimulate consumer interest and awareness from Russia and the CIS states, a special Abu Dhabi Festival featuring a host of the emirate's tourism providers will be held in Moscow ‘s Hermitage Gardens later this month, dedicated to the emirate's culture and traditions and vibrant sports and events calendar.