Abu Dhabi: Ahead of New Year’s Eve (NYE), hotels are witnessing exceptionally high occupancy rates for the New Year’s night.
Some hotels in Dubai are reporting occupancy of nearly 90 per cent across the emirate and around 100 per cent in Downtown and Burj Khalifa areas on New Year’s Eve.
As per the media reports, search data on the global hotel reservation portal Booking.com showed that bookings are not available across 88 per cent of hotels in the emirate on New Year’s Eve.
“Selling rates are better than the previous year, not to forget that we were recovering from the pandemic in 2020. The year-on-year recovery is faster and the rates are better,” Khaleej Times quoted reporting Ayman Ashor, general manager, Al Bandar Rotana and Al Bandar Arjaan.
With hotels almost fully booked, the only option left for people who want to book a night at Downtown is a hotel apartment, which costs as much as 40,000 Dirham (Rs 8,27,605) on New Year’s Eve. While some of the remaining studio apartments with partial views of Burj Khalifa cost more than 13,000 Dirham (Rs 2,69,062).
The countdown to New Year’s Eve (NYE) has begun. This year, December 31 falls on a Friday, making it a true weekend celebration in the UAE. At the stroke of midnight on December 31, brilliant fireworks, light and lasers will illuminate the night sky in Downtown, Dubai.
While the main event kicks off at midnight, revellers can catch cool light projections and messages on the tower’s shimmering facade from earlier on in the evening, as the Burj Khalifa’s pre-show broadcast from 8:30 pm UAE time (10pm India time) on the day December 31, on mydubainewyear.com.
COVID safety rules for New Year’s Eve parties announced
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) said on Wednesday that residents must have a green pass on their AlHosn apps to enter a venue. Additionally, they must have a negative result of a COVID test taken within 96 hours of the event.
Event venues can operate at 80 per cent capacity. Attendees are required to wear masks and maintain a social distance of 1.5 metres.
Organisers are required to check the temperature of attendees and regulate entry so as to avoid crowding and gatherings.
Members of the same family can share a spot without social distancing.