Dubai hotels benefit from surge in Indian guests
General managers at Dubai hotels have reported significant increases in the number of Indian guests this year.
The increase has been attributed to Dubai Department of Tourism Commerce Marketing’s (DTCM) 2012 marketing strategy to boost the overall number of Indian travellers to the emirate.
The authority has spearheaded a number of initiatives, mostly targeted at the Indian travel industry covering the cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Ahmedabad.
The Atlantis hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah recently reported a 12% rise in Indian guests, with the hotel’s US$12,000 per night suite overlooking the aquarium proving popular with wealthy clientele.
A number of hotels of other hotels in the emirate also claim to have witnessed this trend.
“In our hotel alone, there is an average 14% increase in Indian guests staying in Dubai in comparison to last year,” said Pullman Mall of the Emirates general manager Laurent Chaudet, adding that Indian guests still only made up 2% of the hotel’s overall guest market.
Metropolitan Deira Hotel Dubai general manager Khalid Saeed commented: “We are witnessing an increase in the number of visitors from India compared to 2011. We’ve had 3624 visitors in 2012 year-to-date compared to 3084 in 2011”.
Saeed added that Indian visitors made up 18% of Metropolitan Deira Hotel Dubai’s clientele in 2012 so far.
Meanwhile, Lotus Hotel Dubai general manager Wajeed Bagwan said there had been a “considerable increase from the Indian market in 2012 on 2011.
“We certainly are also focusing towards this market segment in the coming months and are hopeful that India will make up at least 10-15% of our market segment,” added Bagwan.
According to DTCM statistics, in 2009 more than 529,500 Indian travellers stayed in Dubai’s hotel and hotel apartments, increasing to 638,100 in 2010 representing an annual growth rate of 21%. In 2011, the number of Indian guests staying in the emirate crossed the 700,000 mark.
Furthermore, Dubai’s Emirates Airline has announced plans too add more flights to India to cater to rising demand from the Indian business and tourism sectors.
However, not all hotels are targeting this market. Citymax Hotels Bur Dubai general manager Walter Knight told Hotelier: “The Indian market generally contributes about 10-15% of our business. This is mainly from the business sector.
“We don’t encourage the Indian market as we have F&B outlets to support and find that this market generally doesn’t contribute to a hotel’s F&B outlets. They prefer to go out to more affordable outlets,” said Knight.
In the capital, Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel and Villas GM Stuart Deeson said the number of Indian visitors remained “quite low”, making up less than 2% of the hotel’s guest market.
“We do target this market by attending the various trade shows and with the support of our sister hotels in India. This has been particularly helped by the opening of two new Park Hyatts — Park Hyatt Chennai and Park Hyatt Hyderabad, in addition to the existing Park Hyatt Goa,” added Deeson.