GCC to accommodate over 80 New Hotel Openings by 2008

The Hotel Show, organised by dmg world media Dubai Ltd, one of the Middle East's leading exhibition companies, is set to take place from June 4-6 2006, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

The exhibition, which showcases the very latest equipment, technology and service innovations for the hospitality industry has witnessed remarkable growth over the last six years, and is gearing up for another record year with the organisers already anticipating a twenty per cent increase in exhibition space.

According to a report by Pannel Kerr Forster (PKF) The Consulting House, over 80 new hotel developments will come on stream by 2008, which is easily the largest number on record.

Many international chains are already present in the Middle East region but others are set to join the fray in the busiest year ever for hotel construction. A total of 28 chains representing 43 hotel brands will open their doors for business within the next three years. In addition to established brands such as InterContinental, Hilton, Sheraton, Le Meridien, Hyatt and JW Marriott, other lesser known brands will be making their debuts in the region, hotel brands such as Banyan Tree, Armani, Bonnington and Chelsea.

Bernard Walsh, managing director of dmg world media Dubai Ltd commented, “In all, over 25,000 rooms and suites will be added to the existing regional hotel room stock by 2008. From boutique to chic, and from colossal to mind-blowing, the rate and variety of development is astounding and that’s before we add the two billion square feet Dubailand development in to the equation. This project alone will add another 50 hotels by 2010.”

One project of note is sure to be the joint venture between Giorgio Armani and Emaar Hotels & Resorts, who will build the first Armani hotel in the world, in the Burj Dubai Tower. There are numerous other record breaking developments:

- Ramada are refurbishing and extending their Doha hotel in Qatar, upon completion it will be the world’s largest within the brand.

- Hilton’s 46-suite Qasr Al Sharq in Jeddah is being billed as the first seven-star luxury property of its kind in Saudi Arabia.

- South African chain, Kertzner International is planning a 2,000 room hotel, occupying 1.5 miles of beachfront on the Crescent of The Palm, modelled on the US$ 1 billion Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

- In Makkah, with eight towers containing 1,320 rooms, Le Meridien Makkah will be one of the largest hotels in the Middle East when it opens in 2006.

- In Dubai International Financial City (DIFC), Rotana Hotels are building the 72-storey 480-suite Rose Rotana Suites, which is being promoted as the world’s tallest all-suites hotel.

Of course these are only the hotel projects that have been announced so far, recently over US$ 25 billion worth of new real estate projects for the region were announced and it remains to be seen what proportion of these developments will contain even more hotel projects. With so much investment the boom in the regional hotel and hospitality industry looks set to continue for sometime yet.

Maggie Moore, project manager for The Hotel Show concluded, “With so much development, it’s little wonder that we are receiving so many enquiries, from existing exhibitors wanting bigger stand space but also new exhibitors eager to carve out a slice of the regional market. This underlines our commitment to an additional 20 percent increase in exhibition space for 2006.”

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