ABU DHABI, UAE – The number of foreign tourists sampling the delights of Abu Dhabi shot up by a third for the first month of the year compared with 2013.
Figures show 276,970 guests checked into the emirateโs 149 hotel rooms and apartments โ a 36% rise on January 2013 โ thanks in part to major sporting events such as Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) says that in all the arrivals delivered 855,651 guest nights at showpiece hotels such as Emirates Palace.
Occupancy for the month rose to 77% โ up 10% on January last year โ and total hotel revenues climbed 22% to AED 522 million (US $142.1 million).
โJanuary reaped the benefits of the international holiday seasons and the hosting of numerous major events in the emirate including the World Future Energy Summit and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship,โ said HE Jasem Al Darmaki, Deputy Director General of TCA Abu Dhabi.
โThis is an excellent start to a year in which we have stretched our hotel guest target to 3.1 million a year following last yearโs record breaking performance when we exceeded our hotel guest target and achieved our original 2014 goal of 2.8 million.โ
India remained the emirateโs primary overseas hotel guest market with 16,221 Indians checking into Abu Dhabi accommodation โ a jump of 29% on January 2013. UK visitors were second with 15,208 Britons flying in โ up 24% on 2013 โ while the USA overtook Germany by sending 10,935 tourists to the emirate. The number of arrivals from China rose 353% to 9,751.
โWe anticipate being able to maintain this upward momentum given the air capacity uplift to be delivered shortly through new Etihad Airwaysโ services between Jaipur and Abu Dhabi and from Perth in Australia and Los Angeles and Dallas in the USA,โ added HE Jasem Al Darmaki.
โThese new services will complement greater planned frequency on Etihadโs services from Dublin and New York as well as airberlinโs doubling, next October, of its daily flights from the German capital to the UAE capital.โ