The number of guests staying in Abu Dhabi’s hotels and hotel apartments last month dipped 5% on the same month last year, according to figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), though the number of guest nights increased 14%.

ADTA says the slight fall off in guest numbers could largely be attributed to Ramadan when many domestic and regional visitors who would normally be in the emirate chose to remain at home to celebrate the Holy Month with their families.

In all some 116,492 guests stayed in Abu Dhabi’s hotels during August accounting for 407,766 guest nights.

“The overall increase in guest nights is strongly influenced by the number of longer staying guests in hotel apartments and also impacted the average-length-of-stay, which was up by 20%. Some of the performance in this accommodation type can also be attributed to temporary relocations deriving from unrest in some Middle East countries.” said ADTA’s Strategy and Policy Director, Lawrence Franklin.

Comparative month-on-month hotel revenue remained static though income from food & beverage activities rose 9% in August with many guests taking advantage of Ramadan Tents and special Iftar meal offers.

Hotel occupancy for August rose 2% on August 2010 largely attributable to a 6% rise in hotel apartment occupancy with hotels achieving only a 1% increase in occupancy. Comparative month-on-month room rates dipped 15%.

Despite the dip in guest numbers – which ended Abu Dhabi’s run of double-digit hotel guest growth for 12 consecutive months – the destination remains ahead of the curve achieving a 13% increase in guest numbers in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year.

Year-to-date, some 1,347,782 guest have stayed in Abu Dhabi’s hotels and hotel apartments leaving the destination on a solid course to reach its stretch target of 2 million hotel guests in 2011. The number of guest nights over the year-to-date comparison period is up 25% to over 4 million with the average length-of-stay rising 12% to 2.98 nights. Year-to-date occupancy is up 9% to 67%. Total revenue is up 5% to AED2.7 billion (US $ 749 million) while room revenue has climbed 4% to AED 1.4 billion (US $393 million) and food & beverage income is up 9% to just over AED 1 billion (US $275 million). The year-to-date average room rate dropped 15% to AED474.53 (US$ 129).

Year-to-date source markets reveal increasing business from Asia – which is producing 23% more guests than last year and the GCC, for which figures are up 25%. Arrivals from other Arab markets increased 17%, guests from Europe were up 19% while the US and Canada lagged behind at just 2%.

“Contributing countries to the strong arrivals growth rate for the GCC are Saudi Arabia, which has increased year-to-date by 56% and Kuwait by 32%,” explained Franklin. “Europe’s high growth rate has been primarily influenced by France which is up 24%, the UK which has risen 18% and Germany with 17% growth.”

Domestic tourism is still holding its own with a year-on-year increase of 6% to 537,960. ”Much of this can be attributed to our upgraded leisure offering, the quality and outstanding value of our accommodation offer and the particular success of consumer orientated programmes such as the Yas Island Show Weekends, which, through packaging, tactically link motivating activities and the obvious value of our accommodation to generate overnights stays,” said Franklin. “We anticipate further growth from the domestic sector given the packed events schedule which both closes this year and kick-starts next year.”

The UK remains the destination’s leading international source market achieving some 89,179 guests this year with India coming in at second place with 66,427 – an increase of 24%.

“We continue to ramp up engagement with the Indian market through initiatives such as the three city road show in the country conducted earlier this month by ADTA and key stakeholders,” said Franklin.

Abu Dhabi is heading towards its most hectic Q4 yet with a packed events programme and a slew of distinctive five-star resorts and hotels due to open.

“In the space of three months we will see the staging of the third Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, spectacular celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the UAE and the New Year’s Eve hosting of the Volvo Ocean Race with each event packed with concerts and activities. Abu Dhabi will be action-packed during the coming months and we expect to see the results measured in significant guest growth.

“In addition, the emirate will benefit from even more air access which includes the newly-launched four times weekly flights from Prague by CSA Czech Airlines, Etihad’s plans to add, in October, five more flights a week from the Saudi capital Riyadh bringing its services on this route to 13 a week, its four times weekly flights from Dusseldorf from December and its plans to add four, non-stop services a week from Chengdu, China’s south-west economic hub, from December 15.”
 

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