Dubai's Hospitality Welcomes The Far East

Dubai's hospitality may grow strongly in the 2010s after a year and half of the recession, and a key part of this boost should come from The Far East - India and China - industry watchers suggest. A turnaround of the region's hospitality has been on the cards for sometime, with Dubai hotels recording a six percent increase of tourist inflow during the first nine months of 2010. The number of hotel guests reached nearly six million from five and a half in the same period in 2009. The number of hotels and serviced apartments went up from 533 in 2009 to 565 in 2010 and the revenue generated rose by a margin of six percent in the same period.  The occupancy figures of Dubai hotels had no major shift. Most of the increase in hotel guests and revenue came from the additional hotel inventory that was added during the first nine months of 2010. Number of hotel rooms and serviced apartments went up from 59,372 rooms in the first three quarters of 2009 to 68,654 in 2010, which is a 16 percent growth. Most of this indicates a turnaround of Dubai's tourism by the year-end 2010. A lot of extensive marketing and promotional programs by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) brought out this fabulous recovery.  With the Indian and Chinese economies growing at a very fast pace, there is bound to be an outflow of tourists from these two nations. A key part of this tourism might go Dubai's way, which has all the ingredients - from the world-class Dubai hotels to the awe-inspiring landmarks - to attract the visitors. An estimated 150 million tourists - who will have fanciful ideas about their holiday-making and the much needed money as well - will choose to be annually outbound from India and China in the near future. This should help grow the region's economy and Dubai's hospitality, both further.  The terms of lease might get friendlier for Dubai's office space in the near future, thus encouraging more Indian and Chinese companies to start functioning from within its jurisdiction. This should encourage more travelers to start visiting Dubai, and therefore help further grow a fun and leisure seeking middle-class. Dubai hotels should chalk out marketing plans to take advantage of these developments. It may still take some years before the Indians and Chinese started frequenting Dubai in a significant manner, since their economies have yet not been through that advancement, meaning the hospitality operators in Dubai could plan out strategies at their own discretion, before the business actually started flowing in.  India and China have been witnessing a sustained growth of inbound tourism in the past few years, which should peak and pave the way for a significant amount of outbound tourism in a few years from now. While the Chinese have already started probing the region's trade and tourism potential, the Indians - who already have a fair degree of presence in the Middle east - won't be left too far behind in the race either. Dubai has the right infrastructure to host this tourist inflow and energize the whole region's economy. Dubai hotels and the reality, in general, could play a major role in ensuring this happens.