For the hospitality sector in the Middle East, 2008 was, if not a great year, a good one, remaining mostly insulated from the impact of the global financial meltdown.

The sector has enjoyed high room occupancy rates throughout 2008 as more hotels opened and other upcoming projects remained on schedule.

Dubai is said to have the world’s highest occupancy rates at 85%. The figures from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) indicate that hotels in DUbai registered average occupancy rates of 83.2%.

The number of hotels that were built also increased, from 439 in 2007 to 482 in 2008, for a total of 30,306 rooms in 2008 compared to 26,771 in 2007.

The Deloitte report said: “Abu Dhabi reported a 39.9 per cent change in revenue per room in the first nine months of the year, followed by Oman with 32.9 per cent and Saudi Arabia with 23.1 per cent, while Dubai grew 4.7 per cent.

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