INTERNATIONAL hotel chain Hilton Worldwide has its sights set on major expansion in the region, with Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) featuring prominently in its plans.
Essam Abouda, vice president Arabian Peninsula and Indian Ocean, told a recent gathering at the newly opened DoubleTree by Hilton Ras Al Khaimah that the company has 35 regional hotels in the pipeline, including the first Waldorf Astoria in the UAE - Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah.
Hilton currently operates 51 hotels and one convention centre in the Middle East and Africa, totalling more than 15,000 rooms across 16 counties. In the Middle East alone, there are 36 hotels across six countries as well as those in the pipeline.
These properties comprise 17 hotels in Egypt, one hotel and one convention centre in Jordan, 10 hotels in the UAE, six in Saudi Arabia and one each in Oman and Kuwait plus a hotel in Africa and three Indian Ocean properties.
The chain has three properties in Ras Al Khaimah - Hilton RAK Resort & Spa, Hilton RAK, and the recently unveiled Double Tree by Hilton RAK.
So far in 2011, Hilton Worldwide has opened seven hotels across MEA (three in the Middle East) and signed 12 new hotels across the Middle East.
The company has also recently reached an agreement with Al Hamra Real Estate Development to take over the management of the Al Hamra Fort Hotel in RAK. The landmark hotel will open under the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand in the first quarter of 2013.
With this property Hilton aims to cement the emirate’s growing reputation for regional short-breaks and give international guests another reason to choose Ras Al Khaimah as a destination offering culture, adventure and high-quality hospitality facilities.
The brand also has another two hotels in the RAK pipeline – the Waldorf Astoria, RAK, which is scheduled to open in the first half of 2012, and Hilton Mina Al Arab, which will open in 2013.
Hilton Worldwide has 92 years’ experience and currently has more than 3,750 properties and 615,000 rooms in 84 countries with 10 brands from the luxury Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts to Embassy Suites Hotels and Hilton Garden Inns.
In 2010 the room percentage under construction outside of the US grew to 73 per cent from just 11 per cent in 2007 and the total global pipeline at the end of 2010 was 868 hotels (138,000-plus rooms).
As part of his presentation Abouda highlighted a number of facts about the industry:
• Globally GDP from travel and tourism will rise by 4.2 per cent per year – totalling $9.2 trillion dollars a year
• This will create another 65 million jobs - meaning one in 10 people on the planet will be employed in the industry in ten years time
• Air travel, which is particularly important in our area, is a key part of this industry boom – and there will be 3.3 billion air travellers in three years time
• In the Middle East that rise in the airline industry is very visible. Last year almost all destinations in the Middle East welcomed 10 per cent more international tourists
• The Middle East has the fastest growth rate in air travel in the world – almost 10 per cent a year. And the UAE, Kuwait and Jordan are among the top 10 fastest growing countries in the world
• A lot of this is driven by business travellers. With more than a quarter of Fortune 500 companies now having a base in Dubai, these business travellers are a key part of the demand for hotel rooms in the region
• And last year 1.8 million pilgrims entered Saudi Arabia for the Hajj – with those pilgrims coming from 181 different countries
• The Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was established in 2000 and has become one of the fastest-growing and most cost-effective free trade zones in the UAE. It is home to 4,000-plus companies
• With a range of benefits from 100-per-cent tax exemption and foreign ownership to no restrictions on capital and profit repatriation, RAK FTZ is rapidly emerging as a business hub in the Middle East region and
• Ras Al Khaimah International Airport is currently being refurbished so that it is equipped to handle more aircraft and passengers, with plans for a parallel runway to be built to allow more planes to taxi at any one time. Located about 18km from the city centre, the airport is modern and the runway can handle the A380.