Ras Al Khaimah has reaffirmed its position as the UAE’s fastest growing tourism destination for international travellers following increased year-on-year visitor numbers during the first quarter of 2017.
New figures reported by Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), which develops the emirate’s tourism infrastructure and initiates its domestic and overseas promotions, ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2017 reveal that overall visitor arrivals to the emirate in the first quarter of 2017 grew by 8.3 per cent year-on-year.
With domestic tourism still the single largest contributor to Ras Al Khaimah’s tourism performance, the record arrivals in the first three months of the year were largely driven by growth from international source markets, which recorded an 11.3 per cent year-on-year rise over the first three months of the year.
“This year has started extremely strong for Ras Al Khaimah, and we attribute the significant year-on-year increase in international visitors to RAKTDA’s strategic overseas promotional activities,” said Haitham Mattar, CEO of RAKTDA.
“During 2016, we implemented a multi-faceted approach in our trade and consumer-led promotions, which have yielded increases from all our core international markets and emerging destinations.
“We work very closely with a number of travel partners across various markets, and through their support, we anticipate prolonged visitor growth as we edge closer to our one million visitor target by the end of 2018.”
During the first quarter, hotels across the emirate registered average occupancy of 75.5 per cent, an increase of 6.2 per cent over the same period last year.
“Ras Al Khaimah’s strong hotel performance highlights the investment potential for individuals and entities looking to develop resorts, niche accommodation options and new tourism products in the emirate,” Mattar said.
“We work very closely with a number of property and product developers to attract further investment. This, coupled with Ras Al Khaimah’s existing tourism and hospitality offerings providing strong performance figures, leads us to project further expansion of our existing tourism sector infrastructure.”
New developments in the emirate’s leisure offering in 2017 include the opening of the world’s longest zip line, an observation deck and luxury mountain camp, as well as the launch of official cycling and hiking routes across the emirate with a focus on Jebel Jais, the UAE’s highest mountain peak.
