Despite the fact that political tensions in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa have an increasingly negative impact on the situation in the tourism industry in the region, tourism in the UAE continues to flourish.
This follows from the data published by Citi Investment Research and Analysis, which clearly indicates that Dubai was the only tourist destination in the Middle East region, where in March of this year there was an increase in income from the rental of hotel rooms.
RevPAR (average revenue per room) in Dubai rose in March by 7.9%. In addition, the average cost of rooms in the emirate increased by 4.4% and hotel occupancy rates increased by 2.8%. For the emirate of Abu Dhabi, March was not so successful: the average room rate decreased here by 17.3%, and the total income of the hotel sector of the capital of the UAE - by 13.7%.
Nevertheless, given that all the Middle East countries that bypassed the political crisis, one way or another, showed some progress in the tourism industry, the biggest successes, according to analysts, were achieved in the first quarter by Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In particular, in both emirates the percentage of occupancy of hotel rooms was very high in March (86% and 82% respectively) - much higher than anywhere else in the region.
