By Issac John www.khaleejtimes.com
Led by impressive hotel rates growth in Dubai and the holy city of Madinah, Middle East and North African destinations continued to remain booming tourism hubs this past summer, a leading hotel price comparison site said.
HotelsCombined’s year-over-year price index show that throughout June, July and August, the majority of Mena destinations experienced a spike in price this past summer when compared with the 2011 summer season. The calculation was based upon average hotel rates aggregated from dozens of top travel websites.
Dubai recorded one of the highest hotel rate increases in the world with an impressive 57 per cent rise from an average nightly fee of Dh601.17 in 2011 to Dh941.10 in 2012.
Dubai’s buoyant hotel industry sustained its upturn in the first six months of 2012 with a 10 per cent surge in hotel guests compared to the corresponding period in 2011. Dubai’s hotels and hotel apartments played hosts to 5,027,223 guests in the first half of this year, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai has said.
“The impressive price increase could potentially be linked to Dubai’s recent tourism campaign in overseas markets aimed at generating awareness on the city’s numerous leisure activities and high-end resorts,” HotelsCombined said in a statement. More info
