(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) After having a fabulous growth in april abu dhabi?s hotel industry is heading to an off season which is likely to cause a little dip in occupancy and revenues.
abu dhabi’s 153 hotels and hotel apartments continued to reflect the economic revival with the increase in tourist traffic with figures released by abu dhabi tourism & culture authority showing some 304637 people checked into hotels during april a 29 per cent rise on the same month last year. guest nights rose 26 per cent occupancy levels grew 10 per cent to 79 per cent and revenues were up 23 per cent in the april.
but the industry will be facing tough challenges ahead with thearrival of summer season and ramadan. speaking to khaleej timesriaz jeelani general manager of abu dhabi’s centro al manhal hotel said: “the summer season has always been the toughest month for hotels. however with every summer season we are noticing a good increase in the figures which is a relief for us. we ensure that every summer we offer the guest extremely attractive deals and offers which help us a lot in maintaining the good business.”
the main challenge that the hotel industry faces during this off season period was the average room rate which decreases by almost 10-15 per cent from the rest of year he said.the business starts to pick up again by mid to end of august and this year since ramadan is starting by the end of june the industry expects the pick up to be just after ramadan finishes.
he forecasted that the dip in revenues which will vary between four to six per cent will put the industry in the comfort zone as “we are certain that the starting from september and till december the season will be extremely busy and we will with no doubt balance the numbers again for us.”
the enormous work and the great initiatives that are being organised by tca specifically for the summer period are having a direct effect on the occupancy levels of hotels in the capital. in 2013 the average occupancy level in abu dhabi reached 50 per cent and “we believe that this year there will be an increase due to their continuous work and we hope to cross the 60 per cent mark.”
jasem al darmaki deputy director general tca abu dhabi said: “we are working on initiatives to encourage more products into the market and to step up the international trade and consumer awareness of the destination and its breadth of offering.”
during april the uk was the best performing overseas market showing a growth of 34 per cent. “april was a month when we benefitted greatly from the seventh season playoffs of the ipl tournament with many of the games being held in abu dhabi and attracting significant audiences from the domestic and indian markets” explained al darmaki.
— haseeb?khaleejtimes.com
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