Eid Al Fitr holidays: Dubai hotels' occupancy reaching full capacity

Dubai - Government has currently set 80% occupancy limit for hotels due to Covid-19.

Dubai hotels are witnessing nearly full occupancy levels during Eid Al Fitr, thanks to strong demand for staycations as well as inflow of foreign tourists, especially from Europe and Arab countries.

Industry executives in Dubai revealed that occupancy level is reaching 80 per cent, which is in line with the maximum capacity limit set by the government as part of Covid-19 safety and precautionary measures.

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“We are operating up to 80 per cent and most of the customers are for staycations, while foreign tourists are mainly Germans, Russians, Dutch, Scottish and French,” said Ayman Ashor, general manager of Al Bandar Rotana and Arjaan by Rotana.

“We have seen a good first two months of 2021 and closed the first quarter with 79 per cent occupancy. Now, we see stabilisation because Ramadan is a bit quiet with around 75 per cent occupancy. I expect summer will also be stable around the same number and then Q4 will see occupancy level hitting 90 per cent,” Ashor said.

Depending on the sighting of the crescent, UAE residents are expected to have a 4-5 day holiday break during Eid Al Fitr.

Mamoun Hmedan, managing director for Mena and India at travel and hotel booking website Wego, noted that, with Eid Al Fitr holidays approaching, hotel searches in the UAE have also increased gradually.

“Hotels are offering special deals for the Eid holiday, including value-added offers for families. We expect that these offers will revive tourism and attract more tourists. Through our platform, we saw an increase in hotel searches by around 500 per cent, from March to April, for Eid al-Fitr period. We also noticed during the pandemic that most travellers are booking a week before their stay, therefore, we expect a noticeable increase in the number of bookings during the coming week,” he said.

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According to Wego data, hotels topped the list of searches with 82 per cent, followed by resorts with 12 per cent, then hotel apartments by four per cent, and the length of stay that travellers are looking for is around four days.