Bench Events’ chairman Jonathan Worsley is one of the organisers and founders of the highly successful International Hotel Investment Forum. In 2005, he launched the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, UAE.
Over the years, AHIC has provided a platform for face-to-face discussions with decision makers of the industry.
This year, once again, the programme for AHIC 2010 is to debate the changing investment and hotel sector landscape in the region, with a special focus on North Africa.
SHALU CHANDRAN speaks to WORSLEY, who also sits on the board of STR Global and is an advisor to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
What does the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) have to offer this year?
The principal focus of AHIC 2010 is to bring international hotel and regional industry experts together to discuss and debate the changing landscape and to help identify intelligent and targeted investment opportunities. AHIC has a fabulous speaker line-up including first time speakers such as: Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer, Etihad Airways; Pierre Frederic Roulot, president, Golden Tulip Hospitality & Louvre Hotels; Sheikh Mubarak Abdulla Al Mubarak Al Sabah, chairman, Action Hotels; Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, chairman, Abu Dhabi National Hotels and Mansour Amer, chairman, AMER Group to name but a few. We are also delighted to have a panel featuring CEOs and senior representatives from Bing Travel, Etihad, Sabre and Expedia moderated by the Dean of Cornell focusing on the future of airline demand, booking patterns and distribution in Mena.
Additionally, we have several new initiatives this year including ‘Ask the Experts’ and ‘Seeking Investors’. The idea of ‘Ask the Experts’ is to give delegates face time with experts to answer questions which are directly related to their business. ‘Seeking Investors’ is a way of connecting projects with investors - delegates submit details of their projects on our website and we circulate these projects to our investors and sponsors attending the conference. Overall, we provide attendees with high-level discussions mixed in with interactive sessions and great networking, the Armani reception will no doubt be one to remember!
With the worst of the global recession over, what will be the focus for speakers at the event this year?
The theme for this year is ‘Unlocking Investment Opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa’. Speakers will focus on giving our attendees the knowledge and contacts to successfully pursue markets such as the Levant, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Kuwait. The AHIC advisory board, which comprises more than 40 of the most influential names in the Middle East hospitality industry came up with the theme at our annual meeting. We wanted to reflect that there is a vast range of profitable and sustainable opportunities available to investors. The theme reflects the optimism of many who are already active in the region. It is extremely important to get the message across that while certain spots are no longer ‘hot’, this is not reflective of the region as a whole.
What kind of potential do you see in North Africa for investors?
I think it is a region which has yet to fulfil its potential and we are delighted the tourism ministers from both Egypt and Morocco are joining us at AHIC. We have a dedicated session on North Africa featuring a mixture of operators, investors and developers. The Jones Lang LaSalle Hotel Investment Outlook 2010 highlighted Morocco as one of the ‘hottest markets’ for 2010. Libya is also generating a buzz with greater apparent political stability and oil dollars flowing in, there is a need for decent hotel product in this market.
With the large number of hotel properties set to open this year, are there concerns of oversupply in the region?
The Middle East hotel sector has a great deal of untapped potential. In the flurry of 2009’s end of year reports, there emerged positive signs for the Middle East from a number of quarters. The International Air Transport Association, for example, showed that Mena regional airlines grew overall passenger traffic by 11.2 per cent in 2009.
Importantly, a significant portion of this growth was from some of the major airlines making further inroads into the Asia and European market, which will help generate additional demand for accommodation in the region.
No doubt there has been a massive increase in additional rooms in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai with some additional 23,000 rooms ‘in construction’ and a similar amount in the planning stages according to STR Global. It is questionable how many of these rooms will actually be completed, particularly in Dubai with many projects on hold. However those properties with strong brands, good location and great service will continue to outperform their peers more so than ever. It is all about intelligent management from development to marketing.
What new travel trends can we expect to see in the region in 2010?
Last year also saw a number of regional low-cost airlines start to build a foothold and the launch of a couple of new players. No doubt they will be significant in transforming the domestic tourism and travel market in the Middle East. Local players such as Rotana and Action Hotels are really moving into this family, mid-market segment which has previously been untapped. There is an enormous need in the region for quality branded hotels. The major brands have tapped into this and Mena is a key source of growth for all of them.
Regional travel is going to be a key driver of demand in the future and is one of the topics highlighted for discussion at AHIC.