UAE National Day holiday: Staycation prices set to increase during long weekend

As UAE residents gear up for the last long weekend on the eve of National Day, hotel staycation rates in Dubai are set to spike further due to massive demand for the Fifa World Cup.

Hoteliers in Dubai are reporting a 100 per cent occupancy rate from the next week as football fans from Europe, US and Middle Eastern countries throng Dubai to watch the mega event.

Thousands of football enthusiasts will fly between Dubai and Qatar as Flydubai and Qatar Airways will operate up to 120 match-day shuttle flights from November 20. The shuttle flights will fly in and out of Dubai World Central every day between November 20 and December 19.

The UAE residents will enjoy their last four-day long weekend on the eve of National Day from December 1 to 4, 2022.

Ayman Ashor, general manager of Al Bandar Rotana and Al Bandar Arjaan by Rotana, said staycation rates are likely to go up next week as World Cup kicks off.

“Dubai was preparing for this event from first-quarter 2022 to support Qatar. Bringing people from all around the world to the Middle East to watch a lifetime sports event, will surely increase the demand as predicted in Dubai and will surely result in an increase the hotel rates. The hotels will see full occupancy from next week,” he added.

Abdulla Al Abdulla, COO and group general manager of Central Hotels, also confirmed that staycation rates are going up in Dubai next week as the hotel group added a Fifa supplement to its rates, which start from Dh600.

“Central Resorts and Hotels gets an average occupancy rate of 90 per cent due to the surge of visitors into neighbouring transit hubs such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, creating more demand for accommodation,” added Abdulla.

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