Saudi Arabia leads visitors to Dubai

The tourism market in Dubai continues to be dominated by visitors from Saudi Arabia, India and the UK, according to the Middle East Hotel Market Insight report issued by Deloitte and STR Global today.

KSA drove the largest number of visits to Dubai in 2014 (1.5 million visits), followed by India (0.9 million visits) and the UK (0.8 million visits).

Arrivals to Dubai in 2014 from the USA fell by just over 3 per cent and almost 11 per cent fewer Germans visited. Most notable was the 15 per cent decline in Russians, who due to domestic economic challenges and the resultant impact on the exchange rate, has resulted in the mid and upscale Russian market seeking better value destinations.

Visitation from China and Iran grew at 24 per cent and 41 per cent respectively indicating a growing appeal for Dubai from these source markets.

Dubai’s hotel room supply, according to data provided by STR Global, was 369 hotels in July 2015 which reflects a compound average growth rate of 5.25 per cent from the 233 hotels in 2006. Over this period the number of rooms in Dubai rose from 39,000 across all sectors of the market to 75,600 in July 2015.

Growth in demand for hotel accommodation in Dubai has slowed in 2015 compared to 2014 with growth of 5.1 per cet versus 6.4 per cent in 2014 and the rise in the supply of hotel accommodation over the same period has outpaced demand growth with 6.7 per cent growth in 2015. ,