Just hours after we reported on the official opening of Gary Player's golf course at Saadiyat Beach, we received a press release from Abu Dhabi touting its tourism results for 2009.
The news is pretty good. The capital of the United Arab Emirates says the number of tourists who stayed in its hotels rose by 2 percent over 2008 -- a surprise, considering the chilly economic winds that blew across the planet.
And, even more encouraging, the number of "guest stays" at Abu Dhabi's hotels increased by 16 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 -- a hopeful sign for 2010.
"The overall picture is one of rapidly developing momentum," said Mubarak Al Muhairi, the director general of the city's tourism authority.
All last year, people were saying that flat was the new up. Maybe they were wrong.
In all, Abu Dhabi attracted 1.54 million guests in 2009. The largest numbers came from the United Kingdom (96,700), the United States (67,800), India (61,200), and Germany (59,700).
The city hopes to attract 1.65 million hotel guests in 2010.
Now we wait for other tourism ministries to report their figures from last year. Could it be that 2009 wasn't as bad as it felt?
Friday, February 5, 2010
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