Tag Archives: nigeria
Dubai hotel occupancy hit 89.6% in Jan
Occupancy rates across Dubai’s top end hotels reached an average of 89.6 percent in January, according to TRI Hospitality Consulting, representing an increase of 4.2 percentage points compared to a year ago. The HotStats MENA report, which collates occupancy across four and five-star properties, found that average room rates in the glitzy emirate also rose 5 percent to US$359.39. Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) was up 10.2 percent to US$321.85. January typically sees a rise in the number of guests staying in Dubai’s hotels, TRI said, due to the annual Dubai Shopping Festival, whose retail bargains entices out-of-town visitors to the city. “This mega-event offers a perfect start to the year for the tourism establishments in the city, and helps bridge the gap between the end of year holidays and European winter breaks,” said Peter Goddard, managing director at TRI Hospitality Consulting. The report found that properties in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi were also able to capitalise from the overspill of guests visiting Dubai for the shopping festival, as hotels registered a 10.8 percentage point increase in occupancy to 71.7 percent during January. Despite this, average room rates continued to fall, sliding 10.7 percent during the month to US$167.77. “Despite stronger demand, hotels in the capital have failed to capitalise these events to improve top line performances, simply due to the competition,” Goddard added. Elsewhere in the region, hotels in Kuwait saw a 6.1 percentage point increase in occupancy rates to 58 percent on an upswing in corporate and leisure demand. Popular Egyptian resort Sharm El Sheikh witnessed a strong recovery in demand compared to last year, when the repercussions of the Arab Spring political unrest dampened the number of tourist visitors. In January 2013, occupancy was up 9.3 percentage points to 57.2 percent. Egypt’s capital Cairo saw occupancy improve 5.9 percentage points to 43.7 percent. Continue reading
DTCM chiefs outline ambitious tourism plans
Leaders of Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) have outlined ambitious plans that are aimed at boosting the number of people visiting the emirate.Chief executive officer of strategy and tourism sector development at the DTCM Dr Ahmad Belhoul told Emirates 24/7 that money spent by holidaymakers currently accounts for five per cent of the city's gross domestic product and he is hoping this will reach double figures by 2020.Although 66 million people are expected to fly into Dubai International Airport throughout 2013, many of this number will be business travellers or merely stopping over on long-haul flights to places like Australia.Dr Belhoul hopes that a wave of exciting new projects – such as the Al Fahidi historical district redevelopment – will encourage more people to stay in the emirate. He is targeting 20 million annual visitors in the next seven years.”The average tourist in Dubai spends [between] $250 and $300 (£164 and £197) per day, with annual income generated at AED 600 million (£107 million). Our plan is to increase this number to AED 840 million by 2015,” he was quoted as saying.In order to reach its target, the DTCM is looking to diversify Dubai's tourism offerings, giving visitors a lot more to explore.Mr Belhoul continued: “In the past, the core strength in tourism has been beach holidays, shopping and sightseeing. To hit the 20 million tourist figure, we are looking at different targets where gaps remain.”The emirate will focus particularly closely on promoting sports and heritage trips and a lot of emphasis is being placed on cultural tourism too.Numerous studies have shown that Dubai is already an immensely popular place to take a holiday and the city was recently hailed as the leading destination in the Middle East at the prestigious World Travel Awards.The emirate will also benefit from the plethora of brand new upmarket hotels and resorts that are being built throughout the area. Continue reading
Michel Salgado to speak at Dubai event
Former Real Madrid and Spain star Michel Salgado will be one of the guest speakers at the Dubai International Football Academies Forum this weekend (June 1st and 2nd).The ex-fullback – who ended his illustrious career in the 2011/12 season while playing for Blackburn Rovers – will be joined by Uefa official Ioan Lupescu and Fifa representative Jean Michel Benezet on the opening day of the event.They will talk about how both football governing bodies plan to boost the development of young players in the future.Although the UAE is not renowned for being a footballing hotbed, the game is undoubtedly becoming more popular in this part of the world.Salgado, aged 37, has been living in Dubai for a few months and he is certainly well placed to offer advice on how the game should be played.The rightback amassed 53 caps for Spain between 1998 and 2006 and won a plethora of trophies throughout his career, particularly during his stint at Real Madrid.Indeed, Salgado lifted the La Liga title four times and he also won the Spanish Cup on three occasions. In addition to this, the dependable defender scooped the Uefa Champions League trophy in 2000 and 2002.This is the second time the Dubai International Football Academies Forum is being held and Salgado is not the only famous face being lined up to appear at the event.Argentine legend Diego Maradona – who is currently working as an ambassador for the Dubai Sports Council – will talk about how to succeed in football, while ex-England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson will also be on hand to tell the audience just how important it is to get the basics of the sport right.Eriksson has had a glittering managerial career to date and the Swede has landed numerous honours – most notably with Italian club Lazio in the late 1990s/early 2000s. He is now employed as a technical director at UAE-based club Al Nasr. Continue reading
