THE number of hotel rooms in Dubai is expected to exceed 50,000 soon,  according to a report released by the Dubai Press Club.

Profits made by Dubai’s hotel industry also reached Dh4 billion ($1 billion) last year, it said. The report also said Dubai’s rising tourist numbers mean the sector is attracting investments from the GCC worth billions of dollars.
Statistics show that the total amount of profits generated by the hotel industry in Dubai last year jumped to more than Dh4 billion as compared to the Dh3.4 billion profit in the previous year. The number of hotels has increased to 271 with 26,000 rooms, as compared to 23,170 rooms in 2002.
Demand for hotel rooms has increased in the past three years and exceeds availability. This trend is expected to continue in the next ten years, given the target of 15 million tourists by 2010. Occupancy-wise, Europeans make up the biggest percentage (118 million hotel guests, 27 percent), Asians are next (104 million, 24 percent) and  guests from the GCC, 840 million with 19 percent of the total, come third.
The number of five star hotel guests last year was 154 million, with 800,000 guests in four-star hotels and 900,000 guests in three-star hotels.