(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Luxury developer believes dubai tourism will continue to rise
damac properties will open six new hospitality projects comprising 2550 keys before the end of 2014 and total 10000 keys will be operational in the next three years managing director ziad el chaar told khaleej times during an interview at the arabian travel market which concludes today.
the dubai-based luxury property developer forays into hospitality business with the opening of its first property damac maison near dubai mall on december 31 2013 with 355 keys.
the project received overwhelming response from investors and visitors as the first property is fully sold out and witnessed more than 80 per cent occupancy level during first month of operations — january 2014 according to the company.
“we are the largest developer of hospitality projects in dubai as we have 10000 keys under development and 2550 keys would be opened before the end of 2014” el chaar said. “in terms of operation maison will manage 60 per cent of our portfolio and two days ago we launched our new brand naia and it will manage 40 per cent of the portfolio” he added.
in total damac maison will manage 6500 units including 1000 hotel rooms and rest hotel apartments he said adding that naia by damac will operate 3800 units.
“with a portfolio of 10000 keys in dubai you need two brands because you will end up with properties at the same location” he said.
on the first day of atm damac properties had announced the launch of naia by damac — its latest hotel management services company — which will cater to guests in more than 2200 hotel apartments across the city by the end of 2014.
the new brand will manage projects including naia downtown jebel ali which will begin operations this month. in addition to naia by damac the property developer also announced a certified shariah-compliant hospitality project — constella. on may 6 damac released constella’s a select number of units at pre-launch prices at a vip event.
“the constella will be first hotel apartments in dubai to receive official shariah-certification” he said adding that there are so many projects in dubai called shariah-compliant because they don’t serve alcohol but actually they are dry hotels. “but to be certified we have designed according to shariah sell according to shariah and upgrade according to shariah” he explained. responding to a question about the demand of such types of hotels in the country he said: “yes it’s there. we expect demand is coming locally from the uae saudi arabia kuwait qatar pakistan some parts of india indonesia and more. these are the places we expect demand to come.”
“we believe in dubai we believe in the vision of 2020 having more than 20 million tourists in the city. so the demand will continue to rise” he responded when asked about his comment on the huge upcoming inventory in the hospitality sector of the emirate.
talking about damac’s interest in overseas markets he said that the focus of the company is gcc and dubai. “today our projects are in dubai abu dhabi riyadh jeddah and doha which are mainly in gcc but we have some small projects in jordan and lebanon as well” he explained.
he ruled out any venture in budget-style hotels or apartments by damac “the focus of the company since its inception is luxury real estate development and we have taken that concept into hospitality as well. we believe there is a big demand from customer of dubai in luxury segment.”
— abdulbasit?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.