Dubai aims to treble its annual income from tourism to US$82 billion by 2020, which would involve doubling the number of its hotel rooms.
Occupancy at Dubai’s 599 hotels, which have 80,500 rooms combined, was 78% in 2012 as the number of visitors rose 9.3% from a year ago to 10.16 million, according to data from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).
Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of the DTCM, said the emirate was likely to have more than 160,000 hotel rooms by the end of the decade and aimed to attract 20 million tourists annually by then.
Saudi Arabia, India and Russia will be the main contributors to expected growth in tourist numbers, Almarri said
"The importance in our growth is to have a mix of hotels," he said. "Over the last five years the hotel offering in Dubai has become more diversified."
Companies backed by the Dubai government have announced plans for several theme parks in the last few months
Dubai’s 2020 strategy for tourism calls for the emirate to become the world’s leading family destination.
There will also be a focus on building Dubai’s appeal as a meetings and event destination.
