Dubai's hotels welcomed more than 7.9 million visitors between January and September, a 9.8 percent year-on-year increase.
Hoteliers and hotel apartment operators experienced significant growth in revenues, with total revenues for the first nine months of the year up by 17.1 percent, reaching AED15.33bn ($4.16bn).
The latest visitor number results, released by Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) on the sidelines of World Travel Market in London, showed increases across hotel establishment guests, room occupancy levels, hotel and hotel apartment revenues and average length of stay.
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During the first nine months of the year, guest numbers across all hotels and hotel apartments reached 7,941,118.
Hotel room occupancy averaged 78.6 percent over the nine month period, up 3.1 percent compared to the same period in 2012 and hotel apartment occupancy also saw steady growth, up 7.3 percent to 81 percent, the figures showed.
Average length of stay across hotels and hotel apartments between January and September rose 3.5 percent year-on-year to 3.9 days, they also showed.
Total guest nights also recorded similarly impressive rises, up 13.7 per cent to 30,874,916 from 27,163,974 in the first nine months of 2012.
Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of DTCM, said: "These latest visitor figures show a steady and consistent increase across the key indicators that are critical in order to achieve our Tourism Vision for 2020. With guest numbers, room nights and length of stay all increasing, we have made positive early steps which demonstrate that while our aims are ambitious, they are achievable.
"A 17.1 percent increase in revenues for hotels is particularly encouraging, especially given the number of new establishments which have entered the market this year. This demonstrates that Dubai continues to represent a major opportunity for hotel developers and that we must continue to work to ensure that supply is meeting demand."
He added that the DTCM and its governmental partners are working on a number of measures, including the incentive recently announced to encourage the development of more mid-range hotels.
The figures showed that Saudi Arabia, India, UK, USA, Russia, Kuwait, Germany, Oman, China and Iran made up the top 10 source markets for January to September, mostly unchanged compared to 2012.
Dubai's Tourism Vision for 2020, announced earlier this year under the directive of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and spearheaded by DTCM, sets out how the emirate will double its annual visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to 20 million in 2020.
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