Abu Dhabi hotel revenues hit $98m in May

Abu Dhabi hotel revenues rose three percent to AED360m ($98m) in May, the emirate's Tourism and Culture Authority said on Saturday.

The number of guests at Abu Dhabi hotels, hotel apartments and resorts grew 12 percent to 192,374, the authority said.

They spent 542,567 guestnights which represented an increase of seven percent over the corresponding period last year, official news agency WAM reported.

It said the UAE capital's occupancy rate reached 63 percent, a decline of eight percent from May 2011 due to the increased supply of hotel properties coming to market.

The average length of stay at Abu Dhabi hotels also slipped by four percent to 2.82 guestnights.

Mubarak Al-Muhairi, the authority's director general, said that it is adopting several initiatives to attract more tourists to the emirate this summer.