The tourism market in the Gulf experienced a solid growth in January, registering a strong start for the sector in the region, Arabian Business reported.
According to new data from STR Global, hotel rates in Dubai revealed double-digit rises. Doha and Abu Dhabi reported huge occupancy increases.In January, the hotels in Doha recorded a 17.1 percent rise in occupancy to 75.1 percent while Abu Dhabi hotels registered a 12.8 percent increase to 73.4 percent.
STR Global records showed that the Dubai tourism market attained the only double-digit average daily rates (ADR) growth in the Middle East and Africa region, a 12.8 percent increase to $308.64. Abu Dhabi also saw firm growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) with a 15.6 percent increase to $112.97 in January.
According to STR Global, the Middle East/Africa region registered a rise of 3.3 percent to 62 percent in occupancy, 4.8 percent to $187.15 in average daily rate and 8.2 percent to $115.96 in revenue per available room.
In the UAE, occupancy increased to 82.4 percent, 1.7 percent up on the year-earlier period, average daily rates increased 8.9 percent, and revenue per available room was 10.7 percent up.
While in Saudi Arabia, there was 14.7 percent increase in occupancy to 70.5 percent while ADR rose 6.2 percent and RevPAR by 7.6 percent.
