Leisure attractions luring more tourists to Dubai

Hotels, hospitality have great part to play in achieving Dubai’s Tourism Vision

Dubai: The leisure attractions will lure more tourists to Dubai and will have a sizeable role to play, said chief executive officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM).

“We look towards next year when our leisure offerings will be significantly enhanced by the number of theme parks, it is crucial that these big projects are complemented by continuous additions in other areas, always ensuring that there are more and more reasons to visit Dubai,” Issam Abdul Rahim Kazim said at the keynote speech at The Hotel Show and The Leisure Show taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre from 28 – 30 Sept 2015.

The emirate is developing leisure facilities including Dubai Parks and Resorts, a theme park that is set to open in October next year, and Six Flags, slated to open in 2017.

In the UAE alone, leisure mega-attractions in the planning, construction and pre-opening stages include Dubai Parks and Resorts (2016), Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi (2017) and Dream Island, Ras Al Khaimah (2018).

He said hotels and hospitality sectors have a great part to play in achieving Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020, which aims to welcome 20 million visitors per year by the start of the next decade.

Dubai welcomed 13.2 million international overnight visitors in 2014 and expects 14.2 million visitors this year.

Already, 8.2 million visitors have landed in Dubai in the first seven months of this year.

The hotel sector in general is the backbone of Dubai’s tourism industry, and it is the calibre of the emirate’s accommodation offerings that has helped shape the “high standards and reputation that Dubai enjoys and is known for”, Kazim said.

However, with ambitious targets for 2020, he said an increasingly competitive marketplace targeting the global traveller and challenges to the international travel industry posed by currency devaluations in Asia and Europe, now more than ever we need to ensure that “we are focused on providing a compelling and always evolving destination offer”.

Dubai, for instance, is targeting between 140,000 and 160,000 rooms to accommodate 20 million visitors per year by 2020, according to the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).

“These figures are not achievable without the support of private and public sector stakeholders. As number of tourists increase year by year, the number of rooms to accommodate them must also increase,” Kazim said.

Between January and July this year, 11 new properties opened in Dubai, adding more than 2,600 rooms in the city. At the end of July, total rooms stood just shy of 95,000.

“We are continuously working with all the stakeholders to ensure that Dubai’s inventory increase is well aligned and proportionate to our tourism sector,” he said.

Despite the global macroeconomic conditions, he said that Dubai’s key performance remains relatively stable in the first seven months of this year.

With occupied room nights increased by seven per cent year-on-year to an excess of 15 million, the average occupancy rates between January and July stood at 77 per cent while the average daily rate stood at Dh585, RevPar (revenue per available room) at Dh450.

Dubai’s cruise industry has also contributed to the growth, he said and added that the 2014-2015 cruise season saw an overall increase of 15 per cent in ship calls and 42 per cent increase in cruise tourists.

“The new season is expected to perform even better. Looking ahead, we remain very focused on ensuring Dubai stays an attractive market for hoteliers and investors in the hospitality and tourism industry,” he said.