The present year has been a challenging year for the industry and Dubai's hotel sector remained pretty low last month.

A 35.3 per cent drop in revenue per available room was suffered by hotels in Emirates, which came as the largest decline in the Middle East and Africa region. Last month witnessed a revenue fall to US$198.22 (Dh728.06) per available room from $306.27 in October, displayed the data from STR Global.

Elizabeth Randall, the managing director of STR Global attributed the fall on the downturn in the global travel market and the increased supply of rooms in Dubai.

The data showed that the occupancy levels dropped to 74.9 per cent last month from 81.8 per cent in the same period last year. Meanwhile the average daily room rates plummeted 29.3 per cent to $264.73.

In spite of this, there is some reason for optimism. The figures, according to Alex Kyriakidis, the global managing partner for tourism, hospitality, and leisure at Deloitte, were a little inaccurate because the Eid al Fitr holiday was in October last year.

Mr Kyriakidis, explained, "Hoteliers in Dubai predict that the next couple of months are going to be good in terms of occupancy." He added that there were several healthy factors ahead for the tourism sector in Dubai.