Abu Dhabi saw a sharp increase in visitor numbers during February, according to the latest figures from the local tourist organisation.

Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority – which recently scooped the title of World’s Leading Tourist Board at the World Travel Awards – reported guest nights rose 29 per cent last month when compared to the previous year.

In total the emirate recorded some 524,594 guest nights during the period.

A host of other key tourism performance indicators also increased.

During February the number of guests staying in the emirate’s hotel and hotel apartments climbed 17 per cent to 175,309, while occupancy levels gained 16 per cent to 77 per cent.

Revenue increased 24 per cent to Dhs440m and length of stay expanded 10 per cent to 2.99 nights.