DUBAI’S fast-expanding tourism industry has recorded significant gains as the hospitality sector  posted exceptional growth in the first half of 2004.

Recent figures released by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) showed that the city’s 372 hotels and hotel apartments played host to 2.6 million guests in the first six months of the year, compared to 2.4 million for the corresponding period in 2003, a 49.4-percent revenue growth.
Total hotel establishment revenue stood at Dh3.076 billion, as against Dh2.059 billion over the 2003. Guest arrivals rose 9.4 per cent and bed occupancy grew 30.6 per cent, an increase attributed to an increase in guest nights of 37.2 per cent, reaching a high of 7.6 million, against 5.5 million in 2003. Half-yearly room occupancy stood at 81.9 per cent as against 68.9 per cent in 2003. The total number of occupied hotel rooms rose to 21,300, representing a 22.5-percent increase. 
The rate of occupancy was 73.4 per cent, against 67.4 per cent in 2003, with DTCM a three per cent increase in available hotel accommodation in the first half of this year.