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Coral Oriental Dubai sees July as a vibrant month, with steady occupancy and average room rates (ARR) for the first 20 days as families and tourists spend the last lap of their vacations before the holy month of Ramadan.
The first half of July coincides with Dubai Summer Surprises. Tourist arrivals are robust during this time as visitors throng the emirate to put in a last bit of shopping in the worlds dream shopping destination. But then the hectic pace of life winds down as Muslims turn to prayer and abstinence during the spiritual month, observes General Manager Tony Homsi.
Coral Oriental Dubai won last week the HMH Award for achieving the highest occupancy in the group during Q1 and Q2 of 2012.
More than four million people visited Dubais summer attractions last year, boosting the economy by Dh8.8 billion - Dh5.9 billion from regional and international visitors. Greater numbers are expected this year in keeping with the trend.
According to Homsi, Ramadan is a quiet time for tourism in Dubai, with fewer tourist arrivals, resulting in lower occupancy and ARR for hotels. But he isnt overly worried from a business point of view.
Many of our guests are from countries that do not celebrate Ramadan so our business remains steady. There are also other reasons that make it worthwhile to visit Dubai during this time. We organise many Ramadan promotions marketing them both locally and internationally as an incentive for people to stay with us, Homsi points out.
One other reason why he thinks Ramadan is a good time to be in Dubai is the all-pervading spirit of the holy month. Its a time for charity, forgiveness and compassion, a time to share with family and friends. The iftar after sunset when the daily fast is broken is an amazing experience. Our iftars are sumptuous but more than the buffet on offer it is the ambience of conviviality that is so engaging, Homsi says.
Hes upbeat about the business side of the lean season, quoting a MasterCard study that shows Dubai ranking eighth globally in terms of the number of inbound travellers, with 8.8 million visitors estimated for the current year - a creditable 15.3% year-on-year growth.
The study shows Europe and the GCC are key source markets for inbound travellers to Dubai but STR Global sees Russians and Chinese being the fastest growing tourist groups, while some hoteliers point to the growing number of Indian travellers.
STR Globals data for Q1 2012 shows 86.6% occupancy in Dubai hotels, pushing up the average daily rate (ADR) and boosting revenue per available room (RevPAR) by 17.6% year-on-year.
