TOURISM authorities across the various emirates in the UAE have for many years promoted their respective emirate, but this could soon change following the creation of the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities (NCTA), which will eventually oversee the country’s tourism campaigns. The council, which includes representatives from all seven emirates, aims to create policies and direction, proving beneficial for the country in the long term.
Coming out of recessionary market, tourism across the country has seen a healthy growth in 2010. While Abu Dhabi saw a leap of 27 per cent in visitor numbers for November, Dubai notched six per cent increase in the first nine months of 2010. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), by 2020, the contribution of travel and tourism to UAE’s GDP will jump to 21.7 per cent with revenues expected to hit nearly $140m. TTN Yearbook takes a closer look at the emirates...
DUBAI
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) have revealed healthy progress of Dubai’s tourism sector during the first nine months of 2010.
Statistics indicate that the number of hotel guests in Dubai, between January and September 2010, touched approximately six million (5,991,660 guests), reflecting a six per cent increase compared to the 5,640,703 guests during the corresponding period in 2009.
Meanwhile, DTCM has also launched an international campaign to promote the “Definitely Dubai” initiative, aiming to market the emirate’s tourist attractions across the world in collaboration with major international tourism companies.
DTCM director general Khalid Bin Sulayem said that the latest increase in tourism figures follows the nine per cent increase achieved during the first half of this year and was possible due to the extensive marketing efforts of DTCM across the global tourism market. Statistics also indicate that the number of tourist reservations for the first three quarters of 2010 reached 18,731,478 compared to 16,378,422 during the same period of 2009, marking a 14 per cent increase.
Also, the number of hotel rooms and hotel apartments increased during the first three quarters of 2010 by 16 per cent; from 59,372 rooms and hotel apartments to 68,654. Hotel occupancy rates remained steady and were almost identical to the occupancy rates achieved during the same period last year.
The number of hotel facilities currently active in Dubai reached 565 compared to 533 in the same period last year, marking a six per cent increase and hotel revenues amounted to Dh9.2 billion ($2.5 billion) compared to Dh8.7 billion ($2.3 billion) realised during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of six per cent.
The occupancy rate for hotel apartments increased by two per cent during the first nine months of 2010, reaching 66 per cent compared to 64 per cent for the same period in 2009.
ABU DHABI
While the rest of the region experienced a slowdown in tourism growth, Abu Dhabi avoided the worst of the impact and still achieved a 27-per-cent increase in visitor numbers in the first nine months of 2010.
The number of guests staying in the 118 hotels and hotel apartments throughout Abu Dhabi in the first 10 months of this year reached 1,477,978, a 16 per cent rise on the same period in 2009. The figures, released by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), show that the emirate, which witnessed a surge in its accommodation stock over the past 12 months, looks certain to achieve, if not surpass, its 2010 target of 1.65 million hotel guests – a rise of 10 per cent on last year.
Among those in the pipeline, the upper upscale segment accounts for the largest portion of rooms in the active pipeline, with 26 per cent while luxury segment makes up 21 per cent or 26,816 rooms. Other projects set for completion in 2011 are the Corniche Road development and Al Reem Island. However, the Saadiyat Island remains the most sought after and, whose window of development stretches to 2018. The Island is primarily an eco-tourism development, 500 m off the mainland and will house the Guggenheim and Louvre museums as well as 29 five-star hotels.
Following a review of the impact of the crisis on outbound tourism markets and the cumulative implications for medium term growth targets, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) reduced its 2012 targets, for hotel guests and hotel rooms. The new targets stand at 2.3 million hotel guests and 24,000 rooms (previously 2.7 million hotel guests and 27,000 hotel rooms).
While the UK is the largest overseas market, domestic tourism continues to remain the most productive. Saudi Arabia is proving more productive than ever with the kingdom now ranked as the eighth largest source market and hence saw the opening of an ADTA tourism office in Jeddah. ADTA will also shortly be opening offices in Moscow and the US.
Additional room capacity has impacted overall occupancy levels but has also enhanced competitiveness and opened Abu Dhabi as a leisure tourism destination.
This confidence in building leisure business took a giant leap forward with the opening of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s largest indoor theme park with the world’s fastest rollercoaster, which will have strong regional and international appeal. This is supported by the opening this year of two additional championship-ready golf courses – one on Yas Island the other on Saadiyat Island and an influx of products from entrepreneurs centered around water sports.
SHARJAH
Considering the issues the tourism industry has been through, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), says he is very happy with the tourism growth in Sharjah. In the first half of 2010, 745,000 tourists visited the emirate, which was a significant increase of 11 per cent over 2009. Hotels recorded an impressive 70 per cent occupancy rate.
“Our biggest market continues to be Europe, which recorded 45 per cent of arrivals in the first half of 2010, followed closely by the GCC market (25 per cent) and Asia (14 per cent). We are now looking at new markets like the Scandinavian and Norwegian markets as well as the CIS. There are plans to open a representative office in Singapore or Hong Kong to tap into the Asian markets too,” he said.
Sharjah as a brand focuses on five different elements – heritage and culture, education, business travel, leisure and the east coast.
Sharjah kick-started its 2011 events calendar with the Sharjah Water Festival, which succeeded tremendously with more than 180,000 visitors. This is to be followed by the Sharjah Lights Festival, Sharjah Summer Breaks and Ramadan promotions, the F1 Powerboat Championships, Sharjah Heritage Day, Sharjah Theatre Day, spring promotions and the Sharjah Book Fair.
“We are also keen to promote Sharjah’s east coast, which has the potential to be a big draw for outdoor and adventure tourism. Khor Kalba is an important conservation area for endangered species which will soon be developed into a new tourist attraction on Sharjah’s east coast. This also reflects the authority’s mission to deliver sustainable growth with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity to tourism,” said Sheikh Sultan.
“Looking at our inventory, we have plenty of three- and two-star hotels so want to focus on the development of the four- and five-stars in order to have a healthy balance. We have always promoted Sharjah as ‘something for everyone’ and so it is important to be able to cater to all markets. Sharjah has plans to open 4,000 hotel rooms over the next three years,” he concluded.
RAS AL KHAIMAH
Ras Al Khaimah has undergone tremendous growth within its tourism sector in the last few years and the emirate is aiming for further improvements with promotional activities planned in Europe, the GCC and other developing markets.
Mahmoud Abu-Ali, RAK tourism director, said: “The government of Ras Al Khaimah is taking tourism very seriously, this is shown by the fact that it is within the economic development department as it is important for the development of the emirate.”
Among the world-class hotels available are Cove Rotana, Banyan Tree, Doubletree by Hilton, The Palace, Hamra Fort and another unnamed alcohol-free, property under development.
He continued: “Occupancies in 2010 averaged at 65 per cent as compared to 2009 when it was around 90 per cent. The European markets account for the majority of the total number of visitors. The emirate plans to present the destination to new markets such as India and China as well as the GCC markets particularly Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“Ras Al Khaimah is a virgin territory, natural and unspoiled with fabulous natural beauty from the sea to the mountains. There are major ongoing efforts into the development of the adventure tourism sector, taking in activities such as rock-climbing and diving as well as into Mice travel to take advantage of the Hamra convention centre and the new expo centre which is currently under construction.”