In order to accommodate the influx of visitors expected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, it has been reported that property owners in Dubai are switching from the customary annual leases to short-term rentals.
According to Gulf News, a number of properties have been placed under short-stay listings in Dubai. Industry experts believe the demand for such units is expected to rise due to regional tourism generated from the major sporting event.
“We’ve seen more activity within short-term rentals, with more supply coming to the market as some longer-term landlords opt to switch to the short-term model to benefit from increasing occupancy rates and higher net yields,” said Jean-Pierre Mondalek, CEO of houza.com, told Gulf News.
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According to the media outlet, this is the second consecutive year Dubai sees a demand for short-stay units. Last year’s spike in demand was attributed to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Market sources told the news outlet that this year’s increase will range between 15%-to-25% by December, in comparison to current rates.
Residential rents in Dubai have already witnessed an increase of more than 20% throughout the fiscal year ending in July.
Beyond Dubai, Sharjah amended its policies on short-stay rentals to cater to fans wanting to stay in the UAE until the end of the year, after the World Cup ends.
“Sharjah landlords can really cash in if they play this well – the regulator has ensured that the quality keeps up to expected international standards,” an estate agent told Gulf News.
Private jets
Meanwhile, English football fans in Dubai are booking up private jets for the World Cup, in hopes of taking it home, The National reported on Monday.
The report states that there are bookings for a 64-seat business-class passenger VIP jet at the cost of AED 6,500 on 18 December, the day of the World Cup final.
“We have sold out the whole flight for the final, which is great, and three quarters for the flight for the semi-final,” said Amy Spicer, managing partner at ME Jets, told the UAE media outlet.
Beyond the luxurious experience, the flight option will also save fans flying between two neighbouring countries from waiting time at the airport. The flights will depart four hours before every match and return three hours after they end.
There is already a high demand for private jets among World Cup fans in Dubai as flight bookings to Doha continue to soar. In Europe alone, there has been a 400% spike in demand for flights since January.
DC Aviation Al Futtaim (DCAF) said earlier this month that available aircrafts will range from an affordable four-seater Cessna Citation Mustang to the light jet eight-seater Pilatus PC-12, the midsize jet nine-seater Bombardier Challenger 604.
In May, Qatar Airways along with other Gulf airlines agreed to launch match day shuttle flights between Doha and several regional cities. This came following the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the GCC carriers.
This means that football fans in the region won’t have to stay in Qatar in order to attend games because daily flights will make transportation simple on game day. To make travel easier, there will also be a no-checked-bags policy.
In addition to the 24 rotating flights that Oman Air will run between Doha and Muscat, FlyDubai will run 30 daily roundtrip flights between Dubai and Doha.
While 10 Kuwait Airways flights would alternate between Doha and Kuwait City, 20 Saudia return flights will operate in Riyadh and Jeddah.
