UAE Discounts, Insurance and New Markets to Refill Hotel Rooms

Four months after the start of the Iran war, the UAE’s hotel sector is still working through the fallout, and operators, airlines, and government agencies are deploying a mix of short-term incentives and infrastructure spending to bring back international visitors.

CoStar data shows Dubai hotel occupancy bottomed out at 19.6% on March 15, before recovering to 82.2% by May 28 over the Eid holiday — a swing that reflects both the depth of the war-driven collapse and the seasonal lift that Eid travel typically provides in the region. After that spike, occupancy pulled back in June, settling in the high 40s to low 50s range, CoStar data showed. 

The emirate’s tourism authority hasn’t released its official visitor numbers since the end of January.

Group and business travel has been slower to return. Northbourne Advisory data shows more than 100 conferences and exhibitions in the UAE were canceled or postponed because of the war. Dubai’s Arabian