Ras Al Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah has seen a significant increase in the number of tourists visiting in 2012, according to data released last month by the tourism development authority.
The emirate reached its half-year target of 500,000 visitors in May, with 523,568 people visiting Ras Al Khaimah between January and May 2012, compared with 835,200 visitors during the whole of 2011.
During the period, city hotels saw an increase in daily average rates of more than 20% and a 32% increase in RevPAR, with occupancy seeing a 6% jump to 73%.
Beach hotels witnessed the same level of results, with average occupancy up 6% to 82%, and 23% and 32% jumps in average daily rates and RevPAR, respectively, on the same period last year.
Victor Louis, chief operating officer, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority describes the emirate as “ripe for further tourism investment” as it gains popularity among local and international tourists as an “affordable luxury” destination offering leisure and adventure experiences.
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“In the coming months we are working on a series of new tourism projects with a budget of US $500 million that was assigned by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah until end of 2013. We are also tapping into new source markets and looking into expanding and developing charter flights direct to Ras Al Khaimah from European cities after the success of the charter flights from Germany, Austria and Sweden that we introduced in 2011, bringing more than 55,000 visitors to the emirate,” he continues.
Popular with Europeans for its all-inclusive beach holidays, Germany was the main source market with 172,700 visitors in the first five months, followed by domestic tourists from the UAE totalling 114,000.
The authority’s target for 2013 is to welcome 1.2 million visitors, and is looking to have an inventory of 10,000 rooms by 2016.
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