Dubai hotels boast double-digit 2013 growth

Dubai, the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates, has reported a 11 percent increase in hotel guests to 11 million persons, according to a March 4 report by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). In 2012, the number of guests across all hotel categories stopped just short of the 10-million bar, at 9.96 million. The emirate has, in fact, hopped across two memorable achievement markers in one year – thanks to an 11 percent spike in the number of guest nights. With an average length of stay of 3.8 nights per guest, the total count of guest nights grew to 41.6 million. Due to higher average room prices at both hotels (+7 percent) and hotel apartments (+4 percent), hotel operators reaped $5.95 billion (AED 21.8 billion) in revenues, an impressive 16 percent increase from $5.1 billion in 2012. Lebanese guests contributed to the increase with 112,000 visitors,