A record number of travelers from the United States visited Abu Dhabi in the first eight months of 2018, according to the latest research from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi).
The number of hotel guests staying in Abu Dhabi during August rose by 10.5 percent compared to the same month in 2017, with double-digit growth in most key source markets underpinning the upward trend, DCT Abu Dhabi said.
With the emirate’s popularity with visitors boosted by the annual Abu Dhabi Summer Season, August’s results show that the Department’s targets of improving upon 2017’s record-breaking numbers of guest arrivals, when close to five million people stayed in the emirate, are on track.
In total 477,606 visitors enjoyed stays at one of Abu Dhabi’s 162 hotels and hotel apartments during August, an increase of more than 45,000 over August 2017. For the first eight months of the year, the figures show Abu Dhabi has recorded more than 3.31 million guests, a 5.8 percent boost in the total number of hotel guests to the emirate compared to last year.
Double-digit growth was recorded across most of Abu Dhabi’s top international visitor markets during August, with only the number of hotel guests from Germany declining during versus 2017.
The Chinese market recorded a strong improvement during this month, up by almost 9 percent compared to August 2017 and on a year-to-date basis, China is still Abu Dhabi’s number one source market – up about 13 percent in total compared to 2017.
Significant growth was also recorded in the number of Indian hotel guests, with 22 percent growth during the month of August compared to the previous year. Saudi guests increased for a third consecutive month during August, recording a growth of about 24 percent compared to August 2017. This translates to 6.1 percent growth YTD.
In addition, the U.S. market also continued to perform extremely well, with the number of American guests increasing by almost 35 percent in August. For the YTD, American hotel guests were up almost 26 percent compared to 2017.
The UK posted a more modest 3.6 percent increase for the month, but despite this, for the YTD, visitors from the UK are up by 8 percent.
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