Dubai to see 14,000 more hotel rooms in 2012

Nearly 14,000 additional rooms are due to be completed by the end of 2012 with the opening of major hotels such as the Ritz Carlton (DIFC), the Pullman (Mall of the Emirates) and the Fairmont Resort & Spa (The Palm Jumeirah).

According to Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing data, total hotel graded supply for Dubai is about 46,000 units, up around eight percent from Q4 2009.

"This number has increased by nearly 3,600 because hotels such as Armani (Burj Khalifa), Sofitel (Jumeirah Beach) and Movenpick (Jumeirah Beach) were completed over the past quarter," stated the JLL report.

Occupancy rates for quality hotels in Dubai, meanwhile, fell from 89 percent in Q1 2008 to 75 per cent in Q1 2009, it added. For Q1 2010, however, occupancy rates have stabilised and have increased to 80 percent compared to 75 percent in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, following a sharp decline of 33 percent in RevPAR between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009, this year Dubai hotels recorded a more modest decline of four percent compared to the same period in 2009, reveal the JLL findings. The emirate's hotels saw ADRs falling by 20 percent from a cyclical peak of Dh1,310 in 2008 to Dh1,040 in 2009.