A baron landscape that has been turned into a fantasy land for grown-ups. Where man-made extremes and ego have created an environment better than nature and the accommodation is one of the major attractions.
I guess it is all relative, however it is difficult to have sympathy for an accommodation industry with an occupancy rate that "plunges to 79%!"
Front Desk Blog
Eric Stoessel
March 10th, 2009
(MENAFN) A report issued by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said that Dubai's hotel occupancy rates plunged to 79 percent in 2008, the lowest level since 2004, due to the falling demand from Europe amid the global economic crisis, AFP reported.
The report said that Dubai's hotel occupancy in 2008 was five percent lower than a year earlier, when rates rose to 84 percent. Occupancy rates dropped by about 7 percent over the period of July-December 2008, and JLL attributed that decline to the new supply in the market, in addition to the ease in demand from key European source markets.
According to the report, several hospitality and leisure firms in the emirate, which has benefited from an oil-fuelled economic boom over the past six years, have suspended or cancelled many huge projects. The report expects that the hotel market will suffer in 2009 than previously forecast and tourist arrivals will be much less than Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing's (DTCM) target of 13 percent annual growth.
On the other hand, DTCM said the last week of February saw an average hotel occupancy rate for five-star beach hotels of 95 percent, with the average room price at $337. Dubai hotels received 6,996,449 guests in 2008 compared to 6,951,798 visitors a year earlier, earning the emirate $4.15 billion in revenues, a rise of 15 percent over the previous year.
Source: Click HERE
