Dubai hotels facing 15% rooms supply rise in 2010

Dubai's hotel room inventory is expected to reach 54,000 in 2010, a massive 40 percent increase on figures for 2008, a leading regional hospitality figure said on Sunday.

Sami Al Ansari, CEO of Ishraq Gulf Estate Holding, said the huge increase in the number of rooms available presented the next challenge for the hotels sector, which had struggling this year amid the global economic slowdown.

Ansari, who is a member of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC)'s Advisory Board, said: “2009 has been extremely challenging for the hospitality industry in Dubai, the drop in demand for hotel rooms as a result of the recession coupled with a huge increase of 17 percent in rooms inventory drove occupancy down by 15 percent and revenue per available room by 35 percent so far this year as compared to 2008.”