Dubai has claimed its tourism industry is beginning to bounce back from the global recession as hotels cut prices to drive demand.
Ian Scott, UK and Ireland director for the Dubai Department of Tourism, Commerce and Marketing, said the average daily rate for a hotel room in the Emirate had fallen from £192 in February 2009 to £167 this February.
This led to an 86% hotel occupancy level for February, a 16% year-on-year increase, while Dubai International Airport’s passenger traffic rose 22.6% in the same period.
Scott said: “The fact that room rates are falling in Dubai is a symptom of the conditions facing the hotels because of the recession. They needed to do something (to drive the market) and it is working.
“We’ve got more than 45,000 rooms in Dubai, it also means there is great competition to sell them.”
He said the growth had been further buoyed by a change in long haul flying patterns, adding: “Dubai International Airport has been showing consistent growth for many months, but now we can say with confidence that more and more people are choosing to stay in Dubai itself rather than transit through.”