Dubai hotels are seeing a surge in advanced bookings due to major events such as COP28, New Year’s Eve and the annual Airshow, according to market analysts.
Dubai’s hotel industry has seen a noticeable jump in occupancy on the books as the market prepares to host the Dubai Airshow and COP28, according to CoStar’s Forward STAR data.
The opening days of COP28 currently show the highest rates of hotel occupancy.
Dubai hotel occupancy
As of October 30, occupancy on the books for the Airshow was 59.1 per cent for Thursday, November 16 and 58.3 per cent for Wednesday, November 15.
At this time last year, levels for those dates sat at 53.1 per cent and 54.7 per cent, respectively.
Kostas Nikolaidis, STR’s account executive for Middle East and Africa, said: “As one of the most popular and prominent commercial aviation events in the world, the Dubai Airshow has always been a great demand source for hotels.
“There is a plethora of top-tier events on the Dubai calendar year after year, and the Airshow is no exception.”
The city showed its highest December occupancy on the books on Saturday, December 2 (44.2 per cent), and Friday, December 1 (43.7 per cent) – the second and third days of COP28.
When looking at same time last year, the metrics were significantly lower, at 29.4 per cent and 30.8 per cent, respectively.
Nikolaidis said: “COP28 combined with UAE National Day on Saturday (December 2) and other events taking place during the busy winter period will ensure the city is buzzing with activity.
“Over 40 per cent of all hotel rooms are already booked for the first few days of COP as well as New Year’s Eve.
“Both events are expected to push hotel performance to new highs for the year with some hotels selling out closer to the dates.
“It takes skill and effort to fill a city the size of Dubai with more than 147,000 rooms. However, for yet another year, the market boasts a full calendar and a top-class Dubai experience awaiting the millions of tourists that will arrive.”
Follow us on
