Abu Dhabi witnessed an increase in visitor arrivals from the GCC market in August. As per figures released by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), there was a 144% increase in Saudi guests, a 140% increase from Kuwait, while those from Bahrain climbed 132%. Qatar and Oman also proved to be great source markets delivering respective guest increases of 59% and 82%. The released figures put Saudi Arabia as Abu Dhabi’s highest source market for the month outside the domestic arena. HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, director general, TCA Abu Dhabi said: “We are reaping the benefits of a concentrated campaign in the GCC spearheaded by our permanent regional office on-the-ground in Saudi Arabia. As we move into 2014 we will focus heavily on the messaging that Abu Dhabi is a luxury, yet highly affordable destination. We now have 146 resorts, hotels and hotel apartments to choose from and a room stock of 25,300.” Overall, 251,504 guests stayed in Abu Dhabi’s hotels and hotel apartments during August – a 37% increase on the same month last year with guest nights rising 36% to 709,148. Average-length-of-stay remained static at 2.82 nights but occupancy jumped 17% to 64%. Average room rate came in at Dhs363 ($100) – which nudged up 7% on August 2012. Total hotel revenues for the month shot up 32% to Dhs336.7m ($92.3m) with food & beverage income climbing 26% to Dhs125.6m ($35.5m). August’s performance means that in the first eight months of this year, 1,755,730 guests have stayed in Abu Dhabi – a 13% year-on-year increase. Guest nights over the yearly comparison have risen 25% to 5,480,742 with average-length-of-stay moving up 10% to 3.12 nights. Year-to-date occupancy moved up 8% to 68% while revenue climbed 17% to Dhs3.3bn ($902m) of which Dhs1.3bn ($353m) came from f&b income – a 16% lift on the first eight months of 2012. Average room rate dipped 2% to Dhs426 ($117). India retains its recent top slot in the emirate’s key overseas source market league with 107,223 Indians checking into Abu Dhabi hotels in the first eight months – a 23% hike on 2012. Indian arrivals delivered 434,554 guest nights which is up 34% year-on-year with the Indian visitor staying, on average, just over four nights. The UK is in second place with 96,923 Britons checking into Abu Dhabi – a 9% rise on 2012 – delivering 458,943 guest nights, which is up 21% – with British guests staying on average close to five nights. Germany comes in third with 74,382 guest arrivals – up by a quarter on last year and delivering 357,391 guest nights – an increase of a third with Germans again staying, on average, close to five nights. Source: Travel Daily