Hotels and tour companies saw strong revenue growth in the first and second quarters of the year but business declined in the latter part of 2008, people in the hospitality industry said. Dubai has been among the region's fastest growing tourist destinations in the last few years, and an economic boom fuelled by high oil prices saw unprecedented activity in hotel construction. But the global fallout of the US housing mortgage crisis, which led to the financial meltdown in 2008, is now being felt in reduced travel demand. Key countries such as Britain, Germany and Russia, from which Dubai receives a large number of its tourists, are facing economic troubles. This has spurred Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) into increasing efforts to bring more tourists to the emirate and keep hundreds of hotels and tour companies busy. "Overall, 2008 was a good year but there was a slowdown in the last two months," said Kulwant Singh, managing partner of Lama Tours. Numbers & Source | See more jobs in Dubai> |
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