Dubai tourist numbers up 10% to 5m in H1

Dubai's hotel sector played host to more than five million tourists in the first half of 2012, up 10 percent on the same period last year, a senior official has said.

Guest nights in Dubai totalled 19.2m nights in H1 this year, an increase of 18 percent while revenues of Dubai hotels and hotel apartments rose 22 percent to AED9.7bn ($2.64bn).

The figures were revealed by Khalid Bin Sulayem, director general, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai (DTCM), on the sideline of a conference at the Atlantis Palm.

In comments published by news agency WAM, Dubai hotels posted H1 revenues of AED8.3bn while hotel apartments raised AED1.4bn.

He said the average length of stay in Dubai hotels and hotel apartments swelled by eight percent to touch 3.8 nights in H1.

The DTCM said the number of Dubai hotel rooms increased to 54,221 in H1 compared to 52,897 in H1 2011.

The number of hotel apartments swelled by seven percent to reach 21,787 in H1 compared to 20,360 in H1 2011.