Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb Director Operations and Marketing, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DDTCM) while talking to Khaleej Times said that the emirate has a capacity of 33,000 rooms which it plans to double to 75000 by 2010 in order to accommodate the present growth trend which will require to pump in billions of more dirhams into the massive expansion of the hotel industry. Dubai hotel industry's total revenues in 2004, he said were to the tune of Dh6.2 billion, a 37 per cent increase over the previous year.
Hotel room inventory went up by 2.3 per cent to reach 26,154 against 25,571 in 2003. Hotel apartments totaled 7,277 with an 8.7 per cent increase in occupancy levels.
Hotel beds occupancy rose by 13.9 per cent with 76.9 per cent beds occupied in 2004. The average occupancy levels for Dubai hotels last year was 81 per cent as against 72.4 per cent in the year 2003.
The cruise terminal is scheduled to receive 16 cruise ships in 2005 and witness a 33 per cent increase in cruise tourists over the 8,000 arrivals in 2004.
Giving the break-up of the tourist traffic, he said that last year tourist came from United Kingdom, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia etc. Last year, he said that Dubai hotels played host to 240,000 Germans up by 51 from the previous year.
He said that tourism contributed to the GDP of Dubai by 74 per cent is benefiting the Gulf region.
The department has been conducting aggressive promotional and marketing initiatives across the world, through its network of 14 Overseas Representation offices in India, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, South Africa, Italy, France etc.
The department now plans to reach out to tourists in Belgium, China, Korea and other destinations.
Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, Dubai has won four awards at an international platform after the emirate emerged top in four categories in a global survey of 167,000 tour operators and travel agents in
200 countries conducted by the WorldTravel BTI.
Dubai scored over leading international destinations like Las Vegas, London and Paris to claim the honours in categories for Best Destination in the World, Best Destination in the Middle East, Best International Destination and Best Destination for Conferences.
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