Abu Dhabi Pins Hopes on F1 and Events Calendar to Reverse a 14.2% Drop in Hotel Guests

Abu Dhabi is betting on Formula 1, the Guggenheim opening, and a packed Q4 events calendar to reverse a 14.2% year-to-date drop in hotel guests, to 3.2 million, amid the U.S.-Iran war. Hotel guests for August dropped 5.2% year-on-year to 512,000, according to DCT data exclusively shared with Skift. “We are slightly below last year, but for reasons beyond our control,” said Abdulla Yousuf, director of international relations at the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi. Corporate and MICE business, he said, is expected to rebound strongly in the third and fourth quarters as postponed events finally take place. Event organizers had pushed bookings to later in the year because they wanted more certainty, Yousuf said. Domestic and regional markets, along with VFR travel, have provided