Tourism

Rotana, among the leading hotel management business in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe, has revealed plans to further expand its existence in the United Arab Emirates. The business is set to open 9 new hotels in the UAE over the next 5 years, including 4 homes in the capital Abu Dhabi and another 5 properties in Dubai, Guy Hutchinson, the company's Chief Operating Officer, stated during the hotel group's 2016 GCC Roadshow.

The new properties consist of five under the "Rotana Hotels & Resorts" brand, three under the "Arjaan hotel apartments by Rotana" brand, and one under Rotana's way of life inexpensive hotel brand, "Centro by Rotana". Together, these hotels will add 3,598 keys to the company's existing 9,584-strong room count in the UAE just, and will take the total variety of Rotana buildings in the UAE to 44 by 2020.

The Rotana Hotels 2016 GCC Road Show saw the region's premier hotel group signal its intent to combine its already formidable presence in the GCC, with a string of new tasks in essential markets including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE. Rotana announced the opening of five new hotels in KSA in 2016, three brand-new hotels in Qatar and one new hotel in Kuwait by the end of 2018, in addition to the 9 homes revealed for the UAE market.

The Rotana Hotels 2016 GCC Road Show had kicked off in Jeddah on January 31 and covered major cities around the Gulf including Riyadh, Al Khobar, Jeddah, Doha, Kuwait and Dubai prior to concluding in Abu Dhabi.

"The GCC stays the biggest source market for Rotana properties in the UAE and somewhere else, and with intra-regional travel rising and accounting for a bigger share of visitor invest than ever before, now is the perfect time for Rotana to enhance our relationships with our travel trade partners and share updates on our growth prepare for the area," Hutchinson said.

With the decrease in Ruble having had a major effect on spending by tourists from Russia, and with the Chinese economy slowing down greatly, Hutchinson said that Rotana is planning to enhanced traveler arrivals from the GCC to assist the UAE hospitality market preserve its development rate in 2016. "The shift in the UAE's feeder market dynamic due to challenging international financial conditions has brought GCC tourists into sharper focus than ever," he stated.
Keeping in mind that 37 % of Rotana's space nights and 40 % of Rotana's room earnings are created from the GCC region, Hutchinson mentioned that the company has actually been seeing an increase of more than 8 % year on year.

"We are very optimistic about the outlook for the UAE and GCC tourist sector in 2016. Although the market environment continues to continue to be tough, we see many positive trends and developments that could yet move hospitality development in the area in the year ahead-- such as enhanced facilities spending by GCC governments, continuing rise in intra-regional travel portion, and the rapid growth of MICE tourism," he stated.

The increase in intra-regional travel, Hutchinson remarked, can only mean good ideas for the UAE, the Middle East's premier financial and traveler hub and the home of the largest variety of Rotana homes in the region. "With need from tourists increasing, there is restored investor self-confidence in the UAE's hospitality market. Abu Dhabi is predicted to post a healthy RevPAR development in 2016, while Dubai, which is set to add an additional 28,000 hotel spaces by 2018, too is anticipated to witness higher occupancy rate in the year ahead," Hutchinson stated.

Dubai attracted over 14.2 million over night visitors in 2015, continuing to be on track towards its objective of drawing in 20 million visitors each year by 2020, while in Abu Dhabi 3.8 million people checked into hotels last year. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, financial investments related to travel and tourist in the UAE touched AED 21 billion in 2015, or 6.2 percent of the general investments, and this figure is expected to increase by 9.7 per cent this year and by 5.1 per cent every year over the next 10 years to AED 37.8 billion in 2024.

Hutchinson singled out the aeronautics sector as a vital motorist of business and tourism growth in the UAE and GCC. "The aeronautics sector contributes to varied markets by facilitating their growth and supporting their operations, and the connectivity and benefit supplied by air transport has actually enhanced the opportunities for both leisure and business visitors to experience a host of cultures and geographic markets. Investments in broadening airports, such as the AED 117.5 billion expansion of Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central, will further drive international traveler arrivals, and we at Rotana look forward to continue working carefully with various airline companies, tourist bodies and other stakeholders in the UAE and the region to drive tourist growth.".

Discussing the top hospitality patterns anticipated in the Middle East in 2016, Hutchinson said, "The Millennials, or the next-generation travellers, have been the current focus for the market. We're seeing a great deal of development because location and then they're influencing the older generations too. Rotana has actually been pioneering e-commerce-focused innovations in the Middle East hospitality industry. Additionally, we have developed a Rotana Mobile App which has published a 20 % increase in month-to-month mobile bookings in 2015, providing a significant roi in developing the mobility platform.".

Rotana presently manages more than 100 hotels in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe, with an aggressive expansion plan for the future.

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