Hotel Guests in Abu Dhabi Increased 16% to 1.9 Million

Hotel guests in Abu Dhabi increased 16% in the first 11 months of the year to 1,903,888 guests, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) said in a statement. Guest nights also rose 23%, jumping to 5,694,140 from the 4,640,893 figure hit last year.

Despite an 8% decrease in average length of stay, the mean figure dipped from 3.22 nights in November last year to 2.96 last month and small dips in room, food and beverage and other revenue contributors, Abu Dhabi's hotels' and hotel apartments' year-to-date revenue of Dh3.96 billion ($1.09 billion) is still a 4% increase on 2010 receipts.

At 2.99 nights, the year-to-date average length of stay is also up 6% when compared to the corresponding 11-month period in 2010.

Last month, Abu Dhabi welcomed 206,748 hotel guests, a 22% increase on the corresponding month last year and the first time in two years that a calendar month has broken the 200,000 mark.

The strong performance ensured Abu Dhabi entered December, a month when 40th National Day celebrations and the year-ending Volvo Ocean Race host port stop-over are expected to give accommodation providers a further boost, less than 97,000 guests away from achieving its stretch 2011 target of two million hotel guests.