ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - UAE Interact

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160UNITED ARAB EMIRATES YEARBOOK 2006Overall, Dubai earned Dh6.2 billion from hotel revenues in 2004, a 37 per centincrease over the previous year. Every aspect of the industry was in a state of rapidgrowth. Guest nights grew by 22.2 per cent with over 15.2 million guest nights,while the average length of stay jumped 12.3 per cent to 2.80 days. Hotel-roominventory went up by 2.3 per cent to 26,154 against 25,571 in 2003. Hotelapartments totalled 7277 with an 8.7 per cent increase in occupancy levels.The average occupancy levels in Dubai hotels in 2004 was 81 per cent, as against72.4 per cent in the year 2003.Much of the growth has been in business travel, often associated with majormeetings, exhibitions and conventions. The Dubai Convention Bureau (DCB), setup to tap into the Meetings, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) market,has been successful in attracting huge events, including the fortieth World Congressof the International Advertising Association (IAA) (March 2006), the 2008 WorldCongress of World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS) and FIATA Congress.Dubai International Airport is a barometer for growth of transport and tourismin the UAE. Records continued to be broken in 2005 with the first half of the yearregistering 11,837,271 passenger movements through the airport, 13.7 per centmore than the same period in 2004. Major development projects are helping tounderpin tourism growth. Whether it is modern airports, excellent roads or hugeindoor facilities for shopping and leisure, the UAE is becoming famous for thecreation of award-winning schemes that provide people with what they need toenjoy themselves in a healthy and fulfilling way.By no means all such projects are situated in Dubai, although there is no doubtthat Dubai has taken the lead in tourism development, not just within the UAEbut within the entire region. Tourism in Abu Dhabi has also been boosted by anumber of major improvements and developments. Branding of Al Ain as ‘TheGarden City’, development of hotels such as the Mercure Grand sitting atopJebel Hafit and the world’s second seven-star hotel, the new Emirates PalaceHotel, together with The Fairmont Abu Dhabi Resort and Villas, both situatedon Abu Dhabi’s attractive waterfront, are among the most recent aspects of asteadily improving tourism profile for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.Completion of Abu Dhabi’s new Dh21 billion airport is likely to bring anunprecedented boom in tourism. The project is upgrading the capacity of theairport to 50 million passengers in the long term, with the first phase scheduledfor completion by 2010. The new facilities will be capable of receiving jumbojets carrying over 530 passengers. Meanwhile, new attractions are being created.In June 2005 the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, passed alaw transferring ownership of Sadiyat Island to Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority(ADTA). He also authorised creation of a development and tourism investmentcompany to be owned by ADTA. The company is an independent corporate bodyassigned to run tourism investment areas.
162UNITED ARAB EMIRATES YEARBOOK 2006ADTA is regulating the emirate’s tourism sector, developing its infrastructure,improving its profile, and marketing it across the globe. It has identified WesternEurope as its primary target market, particularly the UK and Germany. Abu Dhabi’splan is to add 20,000 more hotel rooms by 2015, bringing the total to around27,500 rooms. The emirate is expecting to host 240,000 business tourists a yearby 2015, against a figure of around 40,000 recorded in 2004. The target for leisuretourists has been fixed at three million against current arrivals of 835,000.The strategy appears to be working well on all fronts. Abu Dhabi National Hotels(ADNH) announced a 47 per cent increase in profits to Dh106.6 million for the firstquarter of 2005, compared to Dh72.7 million for the same period in 2004. As withthe huge contribution that Emirates airline has made to UAE tourism, particularlyfocused on Dubai, the establishment of Etihad Airways has already played avaluable role in promoting visitor numbers to Abu Dhabi. Emirates Palace, locationfor the 2005 GCC Heads of State summit, deserves special mention. It is a mostimpressive hotel whose sandy coloured structure occupies a magnificent part ofAbu Dhabi’s beachfront, its majestic marble walls and ornamented domes visiblefrom afar. Built at a cost of around Dh1.8 billion (US$490 million), the hotel hasnearly 440 rooms and suites, 12 restaurants and other entertainment facilitiesand houses the Middle East’s largest auditorium with space for 1200 people.The capital city is thus building on its natural attributes to attract more visitorsand to make the experience of living in the city more enjoyable. It already hasmagnificent golf courses, many international brand city hotels with beach andresort facilities, new shopping malls, heritage centres and the benefit of an islandlocation with acres of beach.But in terms of huge tourism projects there is little to challenge the sheer scaleof Dubailand, Dubai’s ‘ultimate leisure destination’. It has already expanded byat least 50 per cent in terms of land usage, project value and scope of workfrom the original plan, and will now spread across 279 million square metres,attracting an investment of Dh35 billion when completed. The project will bedeveloped in four phases extending until 2020. Once completed, it will house300,000 residents and cater to more than 200,000 visitors daily. The project wasoriginally conceptualised by the Dubai Development and Investment Authorityand developed by the Dubai Tourism Development Company (DTDC). It waslater brought under Dubai Holding. DTDC has been replaced by Dubailand LLC,which will manage the entire complex, requiring 50,000 project staff.The task of creating world-class attractions in Dubai has taken its plannersaround the globe. Acquisitions of key companies has been one of its policies. In2005 Dubai International Capital purchased the Tussaud’s Group, the largestoperator of visitor attractions in Europe. It is likely that the Tussaud’s Group willhave a strong involvement in creating Dubailand as a world-class tourism attraction.
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