The hospitality sector in the United Arab Emirates is getting ready for a large increase in the number of tourists, travellers and other visitors as the Christmas and holiday season gets into full swing and preparations continue for Expo 2020.
The holidays have arrived, as has the winter season, and many residents are also planning holidays or staycations.
Holiday homes are always popular in the UAE and are experiencing a surge in demand and a sharp increase in the number of bookings.
Fam Properties and Fam Living CEO Firas Al Msaddi says that the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing books have over 10,000 holiday homes registered and that this month has seen the holiday homes sector in high demand.
This surge has been the result of a very eventful calendar that was organised by developers and officials, with a high influx heading into Dubai this month both internationally and from other emirates, according to Al Msaddi.
Over 60% of all modern travellers are looking for value experiences throughout their travels.
Major projects initiated by developers such as Emaar’s Downtown Dubai, Bluewaters Island and Meraas’ City Walk have organised a number of events all over the city, attracting travellers from many different places.
These landmarks have become successful tourist attractions, which in turn has made their areas’ holiday homes even more valuable and put them in extremely high demand.
In 2019, over $220bn was spent on business travelling, with 51% of those travellers then extending those business trips to become holidays, according to reports, and Al Msaddi says that the trend will continue to grow next year.
The market share of Dubai as a travel business hub is also expected to enlarge in 2020, according to Al Msaddi.
The best-performing areas in terms of holiday homes in Dubai are City Walk, Dubai Marina and Downtown.
Recently, demand has also started to increase for Bluewaters Island’s new development.
OYO Hotels and Homes CEO for the Middle East and Southeast Asia Dr Mandar Vaidya says that winter is a wonderful time for tourists to come to the UAE.
He added that this is because of the country’s pleasant weather in addition to the number of concerts, shopping festivals and other seasonal festivities.
A rise in the number of tourists heading to the emirate will also be experienced when Expo 2020 Dubai begins next year.
Although it is still 11 months until the show actually gets underway, some bookings have already been made by forward planners for October through to December 2020.
A spike in bookings has been registered particularly for properties in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, with particularly favoured areas in the former including Dubai Marina, Barsha, Downtown and Bur Dubai, according to Vaidya.
Enquiries have already begun to be received from travellers, national delegations and companies planning to be at Expo 2020, says IBC Group chairman Khurram Shroff.
Anyone planning to travel to the UAE for the winter season, Expo 2020 or any other reason should financially protect themselves from any possible hardship by taking out travel insurance in advance.
