Dubai's hospitality sector grows 9.2pc YoY in 2024
DUBAI, 3 days ago
Dubai's hospitality sector experienced a 9.2% YoY growth in 2024, hosting 18.72 million visitors, marking a record increase, reported Emirates NBD.
Factors contributing to this growth include the resumption of direct Emirates flights to Nigeria and a new interline agreement between Emirates and West African carrier, Air Peace.
Western Europe was the largest source market, contributing 14.8% to the annual figure, while South Asia expanded by 1.6%.
Dubai now leads most global cities in terms of available hotel and hotel apartment rooms, with close to 154,016 rooms.
The city offers a wide range of options across price spectrum, with 64% of rooms concentrated in the four-star (28% of total available rooms) and five-star (35%), 19% in the one to three-start categories, and 17% in hotel apartment units.
An additional 3,000 rooms are expected to be added by the end of 2025, with the majority concentrated in the five-star and four-star category followed by serviced apartments.
Dubai also leads most other regional markets in terms of average daily rates (ADR), with an average of $154 in 2024.
The only cities with higher ADRs are Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, which have seen a surge in business travel and MICE-related tourism.
Regional tourism has further supported Dubai's growth, with the travel and tourism sector in the Middle East growing by more than 25% in 2023 to reach almost $460 billion.
The hospitality sector supported over 7.75m employment, with international visitor spending growing by 50% YoY to reach $179.8 billion and domestic visitor spending growing by 16.5% to reach over $205 billion.
This momentum continues into 2024, with an estimated $507 billion contribution to regional economies and an additional 550,000 jobs likely added across the sector. -TradeArabia News Service
