News
UAE hotels shine in Deloitte’s 2008 global tourism list
Posted on 03/11/09
Arabian Business
Claire Ferris-Lay
Hotels in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have both secured places in Deloitte’s global hotel performance for revenue per available room (revPAR) for 2008 it was announced on Tuesday.
Dubai hotels continued to achieve the highest average room rates and revPAR in the Middle East at $300 and $237 respectively, giving it the second highest revPAR and third best average room rates in the world, according to the professional services firm.
Abu Dhabi also saw an increase in revPAR, up 46 percent to $231 per night, earning the capital city the fourth place in revPAR, just $6 behind Dubai. Occupancy rates of 81.5 percent also earned the city third place in the world, said Deloitte.
The top performer in the world, according to the report, was Moscow.
Despite the global downturn, the Middle East and South America were the only region’s to report double digit revPAR growth during the second half of 2008, up 14.5 percent and 18.3 percent respectively.
Deloitte warned that tourist regions must invest in key infrastructure developments and offer value for money in a bid to combat the downturn.
“It is important for countries to invest in tourism infrastructure developments, including airport expansions and hotel developments once credit becomes available again, as this is needed for the industries long-term growth and sustainability,” said Alex Kyriakidis, Deloitte global managing partner for Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure.
Other top ten cities in the world for revPAR included Doha and Muscat up 25.2 percent and 31.1 percent respectively compared to the previous year.
On Monday, Khalid A bin Sulayem, general director of Dubai Department of Tourism (DTCM) said Dubai hotel operators were better prepared for the economic downturn than other regions after reporting 95 percent occupancy rates for Dubai’s five-star beach hotels in February.