Visitors flock to Dubai following unrest

Dubai hotels have witnessed a recent increase in visitor numbers.

Dubai hotels have witnessed an increase in visitor numbers, following regional unrest earlier in the year.

Recent data from accountancy firm Ernst and Young revealed that Dubai hotels recorded the highest RevPAR in the Middle East in June 2011 over the same period last year, Gulf News reported.

In its Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey, E&Y claims that Dubai hotels' rooms yield hit $119 (Dh437) in June 2011 over $107 in June last year. Occupancy levels for the emirate's hotels were the highest, too, in the period at 75.9 per cent, up almost six per cent from 69.9 per cent in June last year.

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Market experts attribute the increase in UAE hotels to the majority of holiday and summer traffic being diverted to Dubai amidst the geo-political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The biggest drop was recorded in Egypt's Sharm El Sheikh hotels where the revenue slipped 48.6 per cent in June over the same period a year ago. Occupancy, too, saw the region's highest drop of 30 per cent in the Egyptian resort in the same period.

Meanwhile, hotels overall in Cairo, saw revenues declining by almost 40 per cent to rest at $44 in June 2011.

In the year-to-date performance, meanwhile, the first six months of this year saw Dubai hotels' occupancies going up to 82 per cent, up from 79 per cent in first half of 2010— the highest in the Middle East.