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Cheaper Hotels, Flights Attract Business Visitors to Dubai

DUBAI - Low hotel occupancy and cheaper flights are boosting numbers to Dubai’s “mega events”, the CEO of the World Trade Centre has said.

Helal Saeed Al Marri said that the Gulfoods conference is entirely sold out this year and an extra venue is being sought at Dubai Expo Airport to handle the 3,300 companies that will visit.

“In the past, perhaps only one person out of 10 who wanted to come to the conference could make it because hotels were fully booked and flights were too expensive,” he said in a conference on Tuesday. “This was having a huge impact on our exhibitions. “Now, if six or seven people want to come, they can all make it because there is room at hotels and flights are cheaper.” Occupancy at Dubai’s luxury hotels have fallen by 15.2 per cent since January last year, according to a report by US hotel consultancy STR Global. Occupancy in the mid-market segment has fallen by 10.8 per cent, the report said.

In January Emirates announced it had slashed fares on certain routes by up to 30 per cent and at the beginning of February rival airline Etihad also announced similar discounts.

The Gulfoods exhibition is of particular importance to the GCC, as the region imports over 90 per cent of its food. The GCC food market is now worth more than Dh44 billion. Al Marri said that while certain sectors had remained untouched by the global economic crisis, other sectors were particularly affected. “On the whole the economic crisis does affect the events industry, but particularly only those areas which handle luxury goods.

People are simply not spending as much on luxury products. However, other sectors such as health and security have remained unaffected.”

martin@khaleejtimes.com