Tourist rush could overwhelm Dubai's hotels

Dubai | By Saifur Rahman, | 02/05/2005 |

Dubai will need 45,000 additional rooms in the next five years to cope with the expected tourism boom, and about 18,000 are in the pipeline up to 2008, according to sources.

The scarcity of supply will drive room rates further up from their already high level, making Dubai an expensive destination, if new supplies are not ensured.

Dubai's 371 hotels and serviced apartments, with a combined capacity of 33,431 rooms and apartments, last year received 5.42 million visitors, generating Dh6.2 billion in direct income, according to the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the government body that regulates Dubai's tourism industry.

Meanwhile, 72,000 new hotel rooms involving Dh39.63 billion ($10.8 billion) will come into service between now and 2012 in the GCC, according to RSP Group, a hotel finance company.

Average room occupancy reached 72 per cent in the Middle East last year, up from the previous year's 67 per cent.

RSP Group said 99 hotels are planned in the region and 128 more are in the pipeline.

Dubai, the region's tourism hub, will see 45 confirmed developments with a further 63 planned in this period.

Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, who owns part of Movenpick, Four Seasons and Fairmont hotels, said he plans to increase his investment in Dubai's tourism sector.

His Kingdom Hotels Investment (KHI) is involved in four hotels in the UAE.

"In the next five years, we want to have 10 hotels," he said at the conference.