Dubai’s hospitality industry is thriving with a 73% occupancy rate, outpacing its competitors, as it drew in a large number of international visitors throughout the year. This is largely due to the revival of travel and opening of international borders. The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism reported a 97% increase in international visitors to 14.36 million, which led to a higher hotel occupancy rate in the city compared to the previous year’s average rate of 67%.
“The 73% occupancy rate in Dubai is much ahead of its competitors as it attracted international visitors throughout the year with quality and premium services with the help of partners such as Emirates Airline, Flydubai and other hospitality units of the government,” according to an industry analyst. Referring to latest data by STR, he said hotels in Europe and Asia recorded 64.6% and 52.3% occupancy rate, respectively, last year.
In addition, the Middle East and Africa hotels achieved 63.6% and 54.2% occupancy, respectively, while North America (62.5%), South America (57%), Australia and Oceania (63.9%) recorded much below average occupancy rate compared to Dubai. “The 73% occupancy rate in 2022 is just short of the 75% occupancy in the pre-pandemic period of 2019. The high occupancy is particularly noteworthy as it was achieved despite a 16% increase in room supply in 2022 compared to 2019,” according to the DET statement.
“Dubai’s hotel inventory at the end of December 2022 comprised of 146,496 rooms at 804 hotel establishments, compared to 126,120 rooms available at the end of December 2019 across 741 establishments. The total number of hotels in 2022 marked a 6% growth over 2021, with 755 hotel establishments offering 137,950 rooms, figures that highlight the continued strong investor confidence in Dubai’s tourism sector,” according to DET. Iftikhar Hamdani, area general manager for Northern Emirates at Hospitality Management Holding (HMH), said the UAE hospitality industry has a bright prospects with primary focus will remain on the high occupancy in Dubai hotels.
“Northern Emirates hotels get huge benefits of Dubai airports as our major tourists’ influx is from Dubai airports. Coral Beach Resort Sharjah hit 86 per cent occupancy in year 2022, now we have budgeted an aggressive 90 per cent occupancy for year 2023,” Hamdani told Khaleej Times on Sunday. “We have exceeded occupancy and profitability compared to pre-Covid period in our both hotels in Ajman and Sharjah. We foresee 19% growth in revenues this year compared to 2022,” he added.
“Occupied room nights reached a record high of 37.43 million room nights in 2022, registering a 19% increase compared to 31.47 million in 2021. It is a 17% increase over the pre-pandemic period of 2019, which yielded 32.11 million occupied room nights,” DET data shows. The average daily rate (ADR) for AED 536 in 2022 was higher than in both 2021 (AED 451) and 2019 (AED 415), with increases of 19% and 29% respectively, according to Zawya.
The hotel industry’s strong performance is also shown in its RevPAR growth, which rose to AED 391 in 2022 from AED 301 in 2021, a 30% increase. The RevPar also increased 25% compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019 when it was AED 312 on average. According to STR, Dubai’s best performance was recorded on New Year’s Eve, with 91% occupancy, an average daily rate of AED 1,765.51 and a revenue per available room of AED 1,606.74. With the exception of four days, daily occupancy remained above 70% throughout December.
