São Paulo – The number of tourists who stayed in Dubai hotels in 2014 was 5.6% higher than in 2013, to 11,629,578. The data was released this Tuesday (3rd) by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), according to a report from the Arabian Business website.
Tourist stays in Dubai also increased from 3.78 days to 3.84 days. The local hotel industry grossed US$ 6.5 billion in 2014, up 9.8% from the preceding year.
Saudi Arabia remained the leading issuer of visitors to Dubai, followed by India, United Kingdom, United States, Iran, Oman, China, Kuwait, Russia and Germany.
The Arabian Business report says a federal law enacted in March 2014 exempting citizens from 13 European countries from pre-entry visas to the United Arab Emirates has helped drive up European tourist numbers to Dubai. In the past, 15 other European countries had already been exempted from pre-entry visa requirements.
A highlight among major hotel guest issuers was China, which climbed from 10th to 7th on the ranking last year, up 24.9% to 344,329 guests.
“The 2014 figures demonstrate healthy year-on-year growth for hotel establishment guest numbers with significant increases from Asia, Africa and Western Europe. The strong growth in hotel guests from China is hugely positive and reflects our targeted work in this market,” said DTCM director-general Helal Saeed Almarri, as per the Arabian Business report.
Almarri also said local hotel industry revenues were fuelled by a 9.2% increase in available rooms in Dubai in 2014. Early last year, the emirate had 84,534 rooms; towards the end of the year, there were 92,333 rooms and 657 establishments.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
