The UAE was visited by almost 6.5 million tourists last year. The increase in guests who chose the Emirates for holidays was 9% compared with 2003, when about 5.9 million tourists visited the country.
Information on the number of tourists visiting the UAE is contained in the second issue of the Emirate Tourism Directory, which is published by the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the UAE. It contains information on the development of tourism not only domestically, but also in other Arab states of the Persian Gulf and in the Arab region as a whole.
The foreword to the handbook was written by Sheikh Lubna Al Qasimi, the Federal Minister of Economics and Planning. The Minister reports that in the coming years more investments will be made in the tourism sector in the UAE than in the tourism and real estate sectors over the past two decades. In total terms, the volume of capital investments will exceed 230 billion dirhams (approximately $ 63 billion).
The guide notes the very high efficiency of most local hotels. Their average employment during the year was approximately 92%. This is a very good indicator when you consider that hotels retain profitability even at 50 percent workload.
