Rotana plans to further expand its presence in the UAE with the opening of nine new hotels over the next five years.
The group will open four properties in Abu Dhabi and five in Dubai, said Rotana chief operating officer Guy Hutchinson during the hotel group’s 2016 GCC Roadshow.The new properties include five under the 'Rotana Hotels & Resorts' brand, three under the 'Arjaan hotel apartments by Rotana' brand, and one under Rotana’s lifestyle affordable hotel brand, 'Centro by Rotana'.Together, these hotels will add 3,598 keys to the company’s existing 9,584-strong room count in the UAE, and will take the total number of Rotana properties in the country to 44 by 2020.The Road Show saw the hotel group signal its intent to consolidate its already formidable presence in the GCC, with a string of new projects in key markets including the Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.Rotana has already announced the opening of five new hotels in Saudi Arabia in 2016, three in Qatar and one in Kuwait by the end of 2018, in addition to the nine properties announced for the UAE market.'The GCC remains the largest source market for Rotana properties in the UAE and elsewhere, and with intra-regional travel on the rise and accounting for a larger share of visitor spend than ever before, now is the perfect time for Rotana to strengthen our relationships with our travel trade partners and share updates on our expansion plans for the region,' Hutchinson said.With the decline in Russian ruble having had a major impact on spending by tourists from Russia, and with the Chinese economy slowing down sharply, Hutchinson said Rotana is looking to increased tourist arrivals from the GCC to help the UAE hospitality industry maintain its growth pace in 2016. 'We are very optimistic about the outlook for the UAE and GCC tourism sector in 2016. Although the market environment continues to remain challenging, we see many positive trends and developments that could yet propel hospitality growth in the region in the year ahead – such as increased infrastructure spending by GCC governments, continuing rise in intra-regional travel percentage, and the rapid growth of Mice tourism,' he said.