Published on : Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Looking at the country’s top three source markets, the number of Indian visitors
travelling to the UAE will increase at a CAGR of 7% to 3.01 million in 2023, while
arrivals from Saudi Arabia and the UK will witness an increase of 2% and 1% to 1.76
million and 1.28 million respectively over the same period.
While the UAE’s top source market rankings are expected to remain mostly unchanged
post-Expo 2020 – the latest research from Colliers International, in partnership with
ATM, reveals the Russian and Chinese source markets will show above average annual
growth rates for inbound passenger arrivals.
Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “The number of
Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase at a Compound Annual Growth Rate
(CAGR) of 12% to 1.6 million in 2023, while the number of Chinese tourists visiting the
UAE will increase at a CAGR of 8% to 1.27 million over the same period, according to
the data.”
Looking to acquire their share of these high-growth markets at ATM 2019, will be the
tourism boards from the UAE’s seven emirates with major exhibits from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah as well as over 93 other UAE
exhibitors such as Emirates, Emaar Hospitality Group and Dubai Airports Corporation.
Curtis said: “Taking a look at the other key drivers, besides Expo 2020, Russian visitors
to the UAE have grown in recent years, due to the introduction of additional and direct
airline routes. Russian visitors also now benefit from relaxed UAE visa regulations and
rising oil prices are helping to strengthen the Russian rouble, making the UAE more
affordable.
“Regarding Chinese visitors, according to some analysts China’s middle-class will swell
to 338 million households by 2020, a 13% increase in just five years. Moreover, by 2030
35% of China’s 1.4 billion population will have $10,000 of annual disposable income, up
10% from 2018. Therefore, the growth potential for both markets is significant.”
With 20 million annual visitors expected to visit Dubai by 2020, plus an additional five
million between October 2020 and April 2021 – 70% of which will come from outside the
UAE – the overall hospitality supply in the emirate is expected to increase by 39% from
59,561 keys in 2017 to 82,994 in 2021 to meet this demand.
Meanwhile in neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi, the number of rooms across three, four
and five-star properties is forecast to grow 13% from 21,782 in 2017 to 24,565 in 2021.
“Just as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have their own unique set of visitor attractions, we are
now seeing the northern emirates carving stronger identities, supported by their
respective tourism authorities. And, while Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Fujairah are
smaller than Dubai and Abu Dhabi in terms of supply, they are evolving quickly,” Curtis
said.
Ras Al Khaimah is working on an unprecedented pipeline, which will more than double
the number of hotel rooms, from 4,019 in 2017 to 9,078 in 2021, the largest
proportionate pipeline in the GCC.
The number of hotel rooms in Sharjah is also expected to more than double between
2017 and 2021, taking the total number of hotel rooms in the emirate to 5,295 by 2021.
Meanwhile, Fujairah will add almost 500 keys over the same period taking its total stock
to 2,543 rooms.
ATM 2019 had adopted cutting-edge technology and innovation as its main theme and
this will be integrated across all show verticals and activities, including focused seminar
sessions, featuring dedicated exhibitor participation.
ATM – considered by industry professionals as a barometer for the Middle East and
North Africa tourism sector, welcomed over 39,000 people to its 2018 event,
showcasing the largest exhibition in the history of the show, with hotels comprising 20%
of the floor area.
Source:- Arabian Travel Market