Dubai’s tourism industry celebrated the city’s milestone achievement of reaching 100,000 rooms across its expanding hotel and hotel apartment inventory following the opening of Westin Dubai in Al Habtoor City.
Commenting on the occasion, His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), said: “For the hotel sector, high demand from international travellers, and the consequent growth in tourism volumes, has been the cornerstone of fostering continued investment in supply enhancement, which has seen us cross this historic 100,000 rooms threshold. This has been a journey undertaken collaboratively and achieved through the enduring strength of our public and private partnerships that underscore Dubai’s maturing prominence on the world stage.”
Looking to the future, Dubai Tourism expects occupied room nights in hotels and hotel apartments to reach 35.9 million, representing a 10.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from the end of 2015 to the end of 2018. As such, the overall room supply is expected to reflect similar growth, reaching 134,000 rooms by the end of 2018.
The quality and high standards of Dubai’s hotel industry have long been a defining characteristic of the city’s tourism offering and a contributor to the destination’s overall attractiveness to visitors. This is also reflected in the latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index report, which ranks Dubai as the fourth most visited city in the world, as well as the number one city for international overnight visitor spend.
