F1 drives up Abu Dhabi’s 2011 hotel guest numbers

31/12/2011 08:36 AST

A raft of city-wide entertainment activations leveraging last month’s third Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix helped Abu Dhabi’s hotels and hotel apartments post record November hotel guest numbers, according to figures released by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, or Adta.

Last month, Abu Dhabi welcomed 206,748 hotel guests, a robust 22 per cent increase on the corresponding month last year, and the first time in two years that a calendar month has broken the 200,000 mark.

November’s performance means that in the first 11 months of this year, the emirate’s hotels and hotel apartments received 1,903,888 guests — a 16 per cent rise on the year-to-date period in 2010. Guest nights also rose 23 per cent, jumping to 5,694,140 from the 4,640,893 figure hit last year.

The strong performance ensured Abu Dhabi entered December — a month when 40th National Day celebrations and the year-ending Volvo Ocean Race host port stop-over are expected to provide a further boost — less than 97,000 guests away from achieving its stretch 2011 target of two million hotel guests.

“Without putting the horse before the cart, we are confident that we will surpass our stretch target for the year,” said Lawrence Franklin, Adta’s strategy and policy director. “This represents a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the emirate’s tourism industry and is based upon the ongoing collaborative efforts and achievements of our stakeholders to ensure Abu Dhabi realises its potential.”

Khaleej Times