Total annual hotel revenues in Dubai amount to nearly thee billion Emirati dirhams ($816.7 million), according to figures released by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at the inaugural meeting of the Dubai Travel and Tour Agents Group.
The number of staying guests at Dubai hotels shot up from 2,480,000 to 3,065,000 between 1999 and 2001, while the number of arriving passengers rose from 4,886,000 in 1999 to more than six million in 2001.
Between 1999 and 2001, the number of hotels in Dubai rose from 254 to 264 and the number of hotel rooms available increased from 18,638 to 21,248. Average occupancy rates had risen by two percent over the period, from 59 percent to 61 percent.
The Travel and Tour Agents Group is the eleventh Dubai-based business group to have been set up with the support and guidance of DCCI. A second general assembly at the Chamber to elect the group’s representative committee is planned for March 16.
“The Chamber’s business group strategy aims to enhance the contribution of a wide variety of industry sectors in Dubai to the emirate’s success, and to provide improved services and information to the Chamber’s members,” said Anwar Gargash, member of the board and head of DCCI’s Economic Affairs and Commercial Activities Committee.
DCCI membership representing the sector had risen by nearly 300 since 1997 to more than 1,070 today. Travel and tour agent members of DCCI now constitute 1.8 percent of the Chamber’s total membership. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
