At the conclusion of 2008, there were 341 graded hotels and 152hotel apartments, accounting for 37,261 rooms and 13,196 apartmentunits. Roughly 5,000 hotel rooms came online in 2008.

During 2008, the market saw its first decrease in occupancylevels in years. Due in large part to the new supply, occupancydropped 5% to 79%. Still during 2008, average room rates and roomyield continued to increase by 11.9% and 3.8% respectively. The2009 numbers, which are still being crunched, are likely to show asignificant decline thanks to the global economic woes. Accordingto JLL, revenue per available room probably declined 30% during theyear.

Still despite declining RevPAR, in 2009 Dubai welcomed more than7.4 million people. The country hopes to increase that figure to 10million in 2010. According to a 2007 report by the Dubai StatisticsCentre, tourism accounts for more than 3% of the country's grossdomestic product. And in 2009 alone more than 7.4 million peoplevisited the country. Landmarks and real estate novelties like theBurj Al Arab Hotel, the tallest hotel in the world; the Burj Dubaitower, the tallest tower in the world; the Dubai Mall, the largestmall globally; and the Palm Islands including Palm Jumeirah; helpattract visitors.