It coincides with the activation of the National Ambulance services in Dubai
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In all, some 1.54 million guests stayed in hotels throughout the emirate in 2009, racking up some 4,673,494 guest nights. Guest stays in the final quarter grew by 16 per cent year-on year.
“The year ended on a high with a very successful last quarter driven by major events and an Eid break with strong stay-at-home characteristics,” explained Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director-general of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA).
UAE hotel guests grew by 43 per cent year-on-year for the month of December alone.
Domestic tourism helped underpin Abu Dhabi’s performance accounting for 42 per cent of hotel guests — 650,585 in all — a rise of 26 per cent over the previous year.
“Strong growth in domestic demand made an important contribution to Abu Dhabi’s ability to weather the global tourism industry challenges brought on largely by the global financial crisis and the spread of H1N1,” explained Al Muhairi. “While the last 12 months have been challenging, as they have for all destinations, we believe growth is a very solid performance in the face of global decline. Numbers have doubled since 2004 from 960,000 to over 1.5 million in 2009.”
On the international front, Abu Dhabi’s main source markets for hotel guests were the UK (96,709), USA (67,804), India (61,241), Germany (59,667), Egypt (43,304), France (34,776), Saudi Arabia (30,717) and Italy (29,653).
“Further field markets such as Russia and China are gaining in significance while markets in South East Asia have shown strong recent growth benefiting from enhanced air access,” added Al Muhairi.
Other performance highlights included a rise in the contribution of the Meetings, Incentive, Convention and Exhibitions (MICE) segment to the hotel guest total — up from eight per cent in 2008 to 10 per cent last year.
The Tourism Authority is now targeting 1.65 million hotel guests for 2010 – a 10 per cent rise over last year.
“Recent accommodation additions have created a more competitive and better-value environment for business travellers and a more fertile ground for the next big phase in expanding our leisure tourism offering,” the director general said.
More rooms are due to join Abu Dhabi’s accommodation stock in 2010. The emirate is currently hosting the launch of the Gary Player-designed Saadiyat Beach Golf Course and next month will see the launch of the Yas Links golf course.
By the end of this year Abu Dhabi will also see the opening of the huge Ferrari World Abu Dhabi theme park — the world’s largest indoor theme park.
“Our tourism sector is responding magnificently to the challenges and opportunities presented by the current environment,” said Al Muhairi.
“Collaboration is on the rise and new products and packages are consistently finding their way into the travel trade and direct to consumers,” he said.
ADTA chief said his authority will continue to support the sector through all its programmes and activities and looks forward to a successful 2010.
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