1.5 million Saudi Arabian visitors to Dubai with noted reduction from Russia and Germany

29 October, 2015 - The tourism market in Dubai continues to be dominated by visitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”), India and the United Kingdom (“UK”). KSA drove the largest number of visits to Dubai in 2014 (1.5 million visits), followed by India (0.9 million visits) and the UK (0.8 million visits) as highlighted in the latest “Middle East Hotel Market Insight Report” by Deloitte and STR Global. The second edition of this report highlights key trends and analysis on the tourism, hospitality and leisure (THL) industry focusing on Dubai in particular.

Arrivals to Dubai in 2014 from the USA fell by just over 3% and almost 11% fewer Germans visited. Most notable was the 15% decline in Russians, who due to domestic economic challenges and the resultant impact on the exchange rate, has resulted in the mid and upscale Russian market seeking better value destinations.

Visitation from China and Iran grew at 24% and 41% respectively indicating a growing appeal for Dubai from these source markets.

Dubai’s hotel room supply, according to data provided by STR Global, was 369 hotels in July 2015 which reflects a compound average growth rate (“CAGR”) of 5.25% from the 233 hotels in 2006. Over this period the number of rooms in Dubai rose from 39,000 (2006) across all sectors of the market to 75,600 in July 2015.

Growth in demand for hotel accommodation in Dubai has slowed in 2015 compared to 2014 with growth of 5.1% versus 6.4% in 2014 and the rise in the supply of hotel accommodation over the same period has outpaced demand growth with 6.7% growth in 2015. This mismatch in hotel supply growth and demand growth has resulted in occupancy declining by a relatively modest 1.3%. Average daily rates (“ADR”) are as a result also lower but these more competitive room rates are necessary to drive tourism volume growth which is clearly the long term focus for Dubai.

“The continued growth in demand, albeit at lower levels of growth, fuelled by ongoing improvements in tourism infrastructure and strong hotel operating performance, has stimulated continued investor interest in hotel development in Dubai,” explains Grant Salter, Director, Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Advisory at Deloitte Middle East.

“Despite the changing market dynamics in Dubai, demand for hotel rooms will continue to grow in 2015. The current drop in the average room rate will have a positive effect in maintaining the occupancy levels throughout the city and to some extent this shift was necessary to keep Dubai competitive as it moves towards achieving its targeted growth in visitors during the Expo year in 2020,” said Philip Wooller, STR Global Area Director, Middle East & Africa.

The Deloitte and STR report further looks at the luxury hotel sector in Dubai as well as the upper midscale and midscale sector.

To read the entire report, go to: http://bit.ly/1Na6TbZ

About Deloitte:

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Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte has in the region of 200,000 professionals, all committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

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About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.):

Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is the first Arab professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926.

Deloitte is among the region’s leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through 26 offices in 15 countries with around 3,000 partners, directors and staff. It is a Tier 1 Tax advisor in the GCC region since 2010 (according to the International Tax Review World Tax Rankings). It has received numerous awards in the last few years which include Best Employer in the Middle East, best consulting firm, and the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

About STR:

STR Global provides clients-including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry-access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia/Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, segmentation data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. Hotel operators can join the surveys on a complimentary basis and benefit from free industry data. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, STR Analytics and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.