Abu Dhabi hotel revenues hit $631m in H1

Abu Dhabi hotels posted $631m in revenues during the first half of the year, up two percent on the same period last year.

Some $251m of total revenues came from food and beverage income, which was up by 11 percent, while $314m room revenue represented a four percent dip on the year earlier period.

A total of 1.189 million guests stayed in Abu Dhabi's hotels and hotel apartments during the first six months of this year, an increase of 14 percent, according to figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).

"This is a very encouraging performance which leaves us well on track to attain our yearly target of 2.3 million guests," said Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general, TCA Abu Dhabi.

"The task ahead is to maintain the momentum but we are relatively confident of doing this as we look forward to a season ahead packed with major events, including the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Art and the planned November opening of Yas Waterworld."

Hotel occupancy rate in Abu Dhabi over the six months dropped by seven percent to 65 percent largely due to an increase in room inventory. Abu Dhabi now has some 128 hotels and hotel apartments accounting for 22,079 rooms.

A total of 205,950 hotel guests booked into the UAE capital in June, up 17 percent on June 2011.

Over the first six months of the year, Abu Dhabi achieved over 2.5 million room nights - an uplift of eight percent on 2011.

Most key markets returned an increase in hotel guests over the six months with the exception of the UK, USA and France.

The UK slipped two percent to 71,465 but still ranked top of the international performance ranking.

The US fell by five percent to 40,857 while France fell by three percent to 23,696 guests.

However the number of Indians staying in Abu Dhabi's hotels rose 31 percent to 65,519 guests, making it the second largest overseas source market, while Germany grew 44 percent to 49,126.

Saudi Arabia also performed well delivering 36,430 guests, up 36 percent on 2011.

The emerging markets of China and Russia recorded promising returns. China grew 84 percent in guest numbers to 15,297 while Russia climbed 31 percent to 8,978 guests.