Ras al-Khaimah recorded 12,709 visitors over the three-day Eid al-Adha period according to figures released yesterday by the Ras al-Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, RAK TDA.

"The Eid al-Adha figures are promising. We have ambitious targets to grow the emirate's tourism industry, specifically to welcome one million visitors by the end of 2018, and these positive numbers show we are on the right track to achieve these goals. Our strategy continues to be focused on our existing source markets, whilst nurturing the emerging markets which provide significant growth potential," said Haitham Mattar, CEO of RAK TDA.

Statistics showed that out of the 12,709 visitors to Ras al-Khaimah over the Eid period, 43 percent of them were from the UAE. Top source markets included the UK (12 percent of visitors), Germany (8 percent), India (6 percent), Egypt (4 percent). Other top markets for visitors included the United States, the Philippines, Jordan and Russia. Hotels recorded an average length of stay of 2.4 days.

"Our hotels reported strong increases across room revenue and other revenue such as F&B, and we are confident that we'll continue to see this positive growth throughout the rest of the year," said the CEO of RAK TDA.

Ras al-Khaimah currently offers over 5,000 hotel rooms with plans to add a further 3,600 rooms by 2019, under leading hospitality brands such as Marriott, Accor, Crown Plaza and Anantara