(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)Guest arrivals into Abu Dhabi in the first six months of the year reached more than 1.98 million a rise of 17 per cent on the corresponding period in 2014.
Figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority TCA Abu Dhabi reveal that guests who arrived during that time generated 5728765 guest nights in the emirate's 163 hotel and hotel apartments an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year. Total revenue for hotel establishments recorded an 8 per cent increase to AED3.346 billion (US$ 911 million) room revenue increased by 11per cent food and beverage revenue increased by 1 per cent while other revenues - which includes services such as venue hire and business events - rose 22per cent to AED402 million (US$ 110 million). June 2015 showed an increase of 2 per cent in hotel guests when compared to June of last year with the 268335 hotel guest arrivals generating an exceptional leap in guest nights of 13per cent to 870304. "We set ourselves a challenging guest arrivals target of 3.9 million hotel guests for this year which we are very confident of achieving especially given that our highly impressive half-year figures show double digit growth" said Jasem Al Darmaki Acting Director-General TCA Abu Dhabi. "We remain committed to actively improving the average length of stay of our guests which has fallen by 5 per cent over the comparable period in 2014. We have a series of high-profile events coming up to entice our guests to spend more time here including our new extended 2015/16 season of Abu Dhabi Classics the annual F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Art and anticipate the traditionally strong second half of the year performance will pull average length of stay back up closer to three nights" he added. The findings also show that India has regained its spot as Abu Dhabi's largest international source market seeing 127312 Indian nationals arriving into the emirate an increase of 18 per cent spending an average 3.71 nights each well above the overall average of 2.89 nights it said. India is closely followed by the UK China Germany and the United States as the largest overseas markets with the Philippines providing 63855 guest arrivals recording a 24 per cent rise. Other counties in the top ten include Saudi Arabia Egypt Jordan and Pakistan. Chinese guest numbers rose 72 per cent year-on-year with 102217 guest arrivals delivering 148842 guest nights although their length of stay dropped by 18 per cent to 1.46 nights. Russian guests showed the largest drop by 10 per cent to 14453 guest arrivals which the authority says could be attributable to difficult economic conditions in Russia. In an effort to stimulate consumer interest and awareness from Russia and the CIS states a special Abu Dhabi Festival featuring a host of the emirate's tourism providers will be held in Moscow 's Hermitage Gardens later this month dedicated to the emirate's culture and traditions and vibrant sports and events calendar.
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