Page 20 - Arabian Business

CO
COMMENT | SIMON ALLISON, CHAIRMAN OF HOFTELMMMENE T | SIMON

d The new Bulgari Hotel is
the centrepiece of Dubai’s
Jumeirah Bay development

Why the region’s hotel boom over 8,000 upper-midscale
rooms (a whopping 99
doesn’t have to lead to bust percent increase) planned.
Other surveys offer similar
Hoftel’s chairman looks at a sector impacted by supply, results. Ernst & Young show
an increase from 94,000
diversifi cation and increasing competition rooms at the start of 2015 to
164,000 by Expo 2020; while
ACCORDING TO FIGURES than 100,000. What’s more, it Lodging Econometrics suggest
from hotel data company is concentrated at the top end a construction pipeline of 194
largest hotel room pipeline of 164,000 of the market, with around projects in the UAE totalling
STR, Dubai currently has the
14,000 upper-upscale rooms
55,264 rooms.
any city in the world, standing The anticipated number of (a 60 percent increase), Interestingly, although the
at over 50,000 rooms on an hotel rooms in Dubai by the around 13,000 upscale rooms market has generally softened
existing room count of less start of Expo 2020 (a 56 percent increase), and in 2017, especially in terms
20 Vol. 19/04, January - February 2018