Figures collated by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi have revealed that the number of international visitors coming to the UAE capital is estimated to have reached 11.35 million in 2019.

This number includes 2.83 million overnight and 8.53 million same-day visitors, and is a 10.5 per cent increase over 2018.

The final figures include official international hotel guests, plus estimates for overnight visitors from overseas staying with friends or relatives and an estimate for the number of same-day international visitors.

Abu Dhabi’s official 2019 hotel figures also reveal that the emirate’s 168 hotels and hotel apartments posted the highest number of guests – 5.1 million.

The hotel guest numbers represented an increase of 2.1 per cent over the previous year, whilst hotel occupancy was up 1.6 per cent (to a rate of 73 per cent).

At the same time, average length of stay for 2019 was up 1.8 per cent (to 2.6 nights) and total revenues were up 6.6 per cent, to AED 5.8 billion.

India, China, the UK and the USA remained the top four non-UAE source markets for hotel guests, with Russia, Ukraine, South Korea and Bahrain the fastest growing markets between 2017 and 2019.

For 2019, UK hotel guests totalled 267,166 for the year, with the market seeing a one per cent rise in hotel guest nights and average length of stay increasing by four per cent to 3.9 nights.

“These 2019 results reflect the hard work and dedication that DCT Abu Dhabi, its tourism stakeholders and its partners have put into offering a ‘must-see, must-visit’ leisure and business destination to not only the international visitor but to domestic guests also,” said Saood Al Hosani, acting undersecretary at DCT Abu Dhabi.”