Figures just released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority show a 29 per cent increase in the number of guests staying in the emirate’s 153 hotels and hotel apartments in April.

April saw 304,637 people checked into the Abu Dhabi’s accommodation, pushing up guest nights by 26 per cent to 933,809.

Occupancy also rose ten per cent to 79 per cent and revenues climbed 23 per cent to AED577 million.

The UK was the best performing overseas market with 19,010 Britons checking into the emirate’s hotels – a 34 per cent rise on last year.

They stayed 84,395 nights, an increase of 24 per cent and, on average, 4.44 nights.

India was the next largest market with 18,790 guests checking into the emirate’s hotels – 35 per cent more than the same month last year.

They accounted for 70,835 guest nights, up 24 per cent on last year and staying on average 3.77 nights.

“April was a month when we benefitted greatly from the seventh season playoffs of the IPL tournament; many of the games were held in Abu Dhabi and attracted significant audiences from the domestic and Indian markets,” explained HE Jasem Al Darmaki, deputy director general, TCA Abu Dhabi.

Guest numbers from China stormed ahead by 309 per cent in April with some 13,501 Chinese staying in the emirate’s accommodation.

“Much of this is directly accountable to the NU SKIN mega incentives which brought upwards of 6,000 guests to our hotels,” said Al Darmaki.

Chinese visitors spent 33,505 guest nights in the emirate in April, a quadrupling on last year’s performance with average-length-of-stay coming in at 2.48 nights.

“Our immediate challenge is to address the average-length-of-stay which dipped in April by two per cent to 3.07 nights,” said Al Darmaki.

“We are working on initiatives to encourage more products into the market and to step up the international trade and consumer awareness of the destination and its breadth of offering.”