Hotels bank on industry growth
dubai — Hotel operators across the UAE have expressed their confidence in the state of the hospitality industry, in light of the ever growing number of tourists to the region.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC 2018), Oliver Harnisch, chief executive officer of Emaar Hospitality Group, stated that Dubai has “robust fundamentals” that drive the growth of its tourism and hospitality sectors.
“The year-round appeal of Dubai as a business and leisure destination, the world-class infrastructure, the diverse attractions – all contribute to sustaining the growth momentum of the city’s hospitality and tourism sector,” he said.
According to the Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing, the emirate welcomed over 15.79 million visitors in 2017, a growth of 6.2 per cent over 2016. In addition to the strong markets of India, Saudi Arabia, and the UK, Dubai has seen exceptional growth in the number of visitors from China and Russia.
“Led by the consistent growth in tourism to Dubai and the effortless connectivity that the city offers with the rest of the world, we are confident of positive growth this year,” Harnisch noted.
“Our hotels reported a robust performance with an average occupancy of 79 per cent, which is higher than the industry average. The hospitality & leisure, commercial leasing and entertainment business revenue of Emaar Hospitality Group was robust at Dh2.722 billion in 2017. Our RevPAR figures too have been consistently high, underlining the strong operational efficiency and competitiveness of our hotels. We continued to report strong occupancy levels during the first quarter of 2018 led by the robust visitor arrivals.”
Carlos Khneisser, vice president of Development for the MENA and Turkey region at Hilton, also noted that the brand continues to see “great potential” in the region, re- flected by the emergence of new source markets such as China and India. He also revealed that the group expects to double the size of its portfolio in the coming years.
“With the number of visitors coming in to Dubai, in particular now, on a level with global destinations such as Paris, London, and New York, the market needs to continue to evolve to cater for this demand – and that means developing a more affordable or mid-scale offering. This is something we are committed to at Hilton having opened four Hilton Garden Inn hotels since 2015, and we are building on this by launching our Hampton by Hilton brand with a 420-room property at Dubai Airport later this year. We’ve had a presence in the UAE for nearly 50 years and now operate 22 hotels in the market.”
Like Khneisser, Harnisch noted that Emaar is consistently looking at expanding its footprint.
“We have already signed management contracts to operate hotels in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah,” he revealed. “We have a pipeline of over 30 hotel projects in the UAE, as well as in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, and The Maldives. We believe that the midscale market has tremendous potential for growth in Dubai, especially with the rise in the number of millennial and value-conscious visitors. With the city’s focus on welcoming 20 million visitors by the turn of the decade, and the Expo 2020 Dubai set to welcome 25 million visitors during the sixmonth period, it is important to offer diverse hotel choices – especially for the new generation of travellers, which is transforming the industry.”
The brand continues to see ‘great potential’ in the region, reflected by the emergence of new source markets such as China and India
Carlos Khneisser, Vice president of Development for the Mena and Turkey region, Hilton