Three and four star hotels as well as the 68 hotels participating in the Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing's (DTCM) Dubai Fun For Free promotion are reporting high inflow of guests from Gulf states.
Summer guests profile in several Dubai hotels has converted from business travellers into family leisure travellers and three and four-star hotels are also reaping benefits, tourism officials said. "We are not only hosting a large number of GCC visitors, we also have guests from Iran and Russia," Gulf Inn Hotel marketing manager Imran Baig told local media. He said the comprehensive tourism product provided a wide range of choices making it appealing to several nationalities. The three-star Landmark Hotel general manager Anwar Hussain said The Landmark Group was enjoying an occupancy figure of 93 per cent against last year's 77 per cent. He said the hotel had created a special bouquet of complimentary offers for Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) visitors. Hussain said Saudis, Omanis and Qataris made up the biggest segment of GCC visitors. Abdul Mone Khafaga, Al Jawhara Hotel general manager, also said: "Since the start of DSS, our hotel occupancy has remained a high of 75 to 80 per cent. Guests from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya make up the guests at the hotel now." Major hotel chains have also reported high occupancies at their properties in Dubai. The Towers Rotana in Dubai said it is seeing a record 80 per cent occupancy levels since the start of the Dubai Summer Surprises. Mona Faraj, group area director of Rotana Group of Hotels, said the hotel had drawn increased demand from families. Tourism officials say DSS continues to draw record number of visitors from the GCC countries and Iran. They said Dubai International Airport witnessed a 14 per cent increase in traffic in June as families started their summer holidays with some benefiting from the special DSS promotional holiday packages. The event began in June with Food Surprises, the first of the 10 themed weeks which conclude with Back to School Surprises at the end of August. The remaining themed weeks are: Heritage Surprises (August 1 to 7); Art Surprises (August 8 to 14); Techno Surprises (August 15 to 21) and Back to School Surprises (August 22 to 30).