Dubai hotels record best December since 2009

Hotels in Dubai posted their best revenue figures for December for four years, according to preliminary data from STR Global.

The emirate's hospitality sector reported a 9.5 percent rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to AED850.50 ($231) last month, its highest since December 2009.

Hotel operators also registered 7.7 percent growth in average daily rates (AED1,063.32) and a 1.7 percent increase in occupancy to 80 percent, STR Global said in a statement.

It added that the emirate also saw increases in supply (up 4.7 percent) and demand (up 6.6 percent) during December.

“December is in line with the previous months and closed another fabulous year for Dubai, achieving the highest RevPAR levels since 2009 for this month,” said Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global.

“While occupancy overall showed positive growth, ADR was the dominating force driving positive RevPAR performance in December and during the entire year 2013."

STR Global also predicted that RevPAR for Dubai hotels is expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2014, as the hotel sector continues to show strong growth on the back of the recent World Expo 2020 decision.

In November, it was reported that Dubai's hotels welcomed more than 7.9m 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 visitor number results, released by Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), showed increases across hotel establishment guests, room occupancy levels, hotel and hotel apartment revenues and average length of stay.

During the first nine months of the year, guest numbers across all hotels and hotel apartments reached 7,941,118.