2012 was a year of unprecedented growth for Jumeirah. The group completed their second year of expansion with the addition of five new luxury properties and the continued growth of our franchise restaurants business. There was significant revenue growth, especially among the Dubai hotels where occupancy and rate continued to outperform the market.
Jumeirah has doubled its portfolio of luxury hotels since the beginning of 2011 with presence now in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Maldives, Shanghai, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Mallorca and Rome.
“Over the course of 2013 we are looking forward to adding at least two new hotels to our collection – Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel in Kuwait and Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel in Baku. We also have five hotels under construction in China as well a strong pipeline of projects under development across Asia and the Middle East,” said Piers Schreiber, vice president corporate communications and public affairs for the group.
In addition, the company announced the planned extension to Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai to include a 420-room luxury beachfront hotel and a separate 50 villa complex reinforces Jumeirah’s commitment to the region and the further development of Dubai as a pre-eminent luxury destination. The development is scheduled to be complete by 2015.
Schreiber added, “In terms of business, average occupancy across Jumeirah’s portfolio of luxury hotels grew by five per cent in 2012 compared to 2011 and average rate rose by 7.1 per cent. The Dubai hotels operated by Jumeirah Group registered an average occupancy of 79.3 per cent in 2012. This trend has continued into 2013 with a very strong performance in the first two months of the year.
“The top three source markets for Dubai continue to be the UK, GCC and Russia. We see continued growth in business from the KSA, the Commonwealth of Independent States, especially Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and also from China. Business from Europe and the Americas remains robust and we have been pleased to notice an upswing in business travel with companies now booking further in advance for meetings and events – a sure indicator of the Mice market returning to the region,” he concluded.