THE Rotana group will add seven new properties to its portfolio in the UAE and Doha during 2011 as well as entering yet-to-be-announced new markets.
2010 was a challenging year but according to Selim El Zyr, the company’s president and CEO: “We had to ensure that all our hotels meet and exceed our fair market share in revenues especially in the UAE where we operate 28 hotels. In order to do so, Rotana reached out to guests from new markets in Eastern Europe, South America and the Far East such as China, Malaysia and Hong Kong and this has proven beneficial. Furthermore, we invested more on marketing initiatives and advertising in order to be more aggressive in our approach to these markets.”
Lebanon was the best performing country in terms of leisure tourism and corporate business, which has always the main focus for Rotana. The country saw a significant increase of 15 per cent occupancies in 2010 compared to 2009.
The next four years will see Rotana open 10 properties per year. “The strategy is there. The execution and know-how are there. The objective is clear. We are positive that as long as we are able to manage growth in an efficient way, then there is the scope to take up further properties. We are managing an ambitious expansion that will see our portfolio of operational properties increase from two in 1993 to more than 70 by 2012,” said El Zyr.
A key developing market for Rotana has been Iraq, with the opening of the Erbil Rotana. El Zyr said: “The opportunity arose when we were approached to manage two new five-star projects, one in the city of Erbil, located in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, which opened in December 2010, and the other in Baghdad.”