(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Spitality leaders at the arabian hotel investment conference (ahic) said that the middle east region in general and the gcc in particular remains one of the brighter points in the global economy.nenad pacek co-founder of the ceemea business group who talked exclusively on monday at ahic about his perspective regarding mea business economic and political outlooks and corporate priorities for expansion said: “western european growth is still low and the central and eastern european region is underperforming. russia is coming to zero growth because of the ukrainian crisis. suddenly emerging asia is slowing latin america is almost a replica of emerging asia and brazil is down since the devaluation so if you are a global ceo you don’t have too many places driving growth other than sub-saharan africa and the middle east and north africa.” at the industry performance review session managing director at str global elizabeth winkle said that the middle east was the world’s most buoyant hotel market in the year ending march 2014. some of the strongest average daily room rates (adrs) across the world are to be found in the middle east.“some of the strongest occupancies in the world are also in the region. dubai and jeddah recorded significant growth in adrs during first quarter and lead the middle east markets”. winkle said.she further said abu dhabi amman doha and manama recorded double-digit growth in occupancy in the year ending march 2014 however the adr rate in all four markets was down on a year-on-year basis due to rising supply particularly in abu dhabi. “dubai has seen occupancy rates in the first quarter of 88 per cent” she said adding that any market operating at an occupancy rate of more than 62 per cent is deemed to be operating very effectively.winkle said that if every planned hotel came on line there would be a 40 per cent rise in the number of middle east hotel rooms.“there were almost 35000 new rooms in the hotel pipeline in saudi arabia and the uae. there are 10000 rooms under construction only in dubai” she said.more than 18000 new middle east hotel rooms came on line in the year ending march 2014.mat green head of research and consultancy uae at cbre middle east said 2014 is set to see significant new supply with around 4000 new hotel keys set to be delivered taking total room inventory to 67000 by year end. in addition there are also a further 2000 hotel apartments set to be delivered during the course of the year.at the ‘defining the growth markets’ panel session jean-jacques dessors said accor keeps on consolidating its position as a leader in the hospitality industry worldwide with over 3600 hotels and 450000 rooms operated in 92 countries.andrew clough senior vice-president hilton worldwide asia pacific and middle east said the panel for ‘defining the growth markets’ session was a robust and insightful discussion by experienced industry leaders.in another session ‘owner and operators — making the marriage work’ experts discussed what the management companies are bringing to the table and what value do owners feel they are creating.ihg chief operating officer for india middle east and africa pascal gauvin said the middle east continues to be a “critical part of our international success at ihg and we see immense potential across the region as the market matures and diversifies”.“we are looking towards exciting times ahead in the middle east as we expect to grow by nearly 35 per cent across the region over the next three to five years. we are especially excited about opening the prestigious intercontinental dubai marina at the end of this year and launching a new ihg brand in the region with hotel indigo to open in riyadh in 2015” gauvin said.lahcen haddad moroccan minister of tourism gave an update on north africa and said the moroccan tourism sector is guided by a strategy for tourism development called vision 2020.“our aim is to make of morocco by 2020 among the top 20 global destinations and will emerge as a reference in the mediterranean region for sustainable development. with an objective of doubling the size of the sector we are establishing tourism as the first industry of the country.”on the sidelines of the conference world’s leading hotel asset management association said it is expected to open an affiliate headquartered in dubai covering the middle east and africa. the association currently has established affiliates in usa asia pacific japan and europe.in another development worldhotels said it is planning to expand its presence in the middle east. “growing our brand in the middle east is an essential part of our long-term expansion strategy” said sven doliwa vice-president sales and business development emea at worldhotels.— muzaffarrizvi?khaleejtimes.com
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.