Abu Dhabi sees 11% rise in guests in 2012 to date

Abu Dhabi has witnessed an 11% growth in guest numbers for the first seven months of 2012, compared to the same period last year.

From January until August, the emirate welcomed 1.37 million guests, on target to meet the annual target of 2.3 million, said Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).

In July, figures released from the authority show that year-on-year Russian tourist numbers were up 128%, with Chinese guest up 70% and those from Germany up 46%.

In the first half of the year the emirate witnessed its room inventory jump 16%, but occupancy in July was down 16% year-on-year, and RevPAR dropped 22%.

“We’re encouraged by consistently strong growth across emerging international markets this year. Having already activated our earliest and biggest Abu Dhabi Grand Prix promotion across more than a dozen international source markets, our aim now is to leverage more than 10 international exhibitions across Asia, North America and Europe to build visitation through to December,” said director general of TCA Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Mubarak Al Muhairi.

“In addition, the encouragement of new markets through road shows in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and the opening of a dedicated LAMA Tours & Holidays office here to target the burgeoning Indian market, should see increased tourist numbers from non-traditional source markets continue to swell,” he added.

In total for the seven months, domestic guests remain the biggest segment, with 522,141 guests, followed by the United Kingdom at 79,660 (down 2%), India at 76,272 (up 30%) and Germany at 54,506 (up 45%).