Abu Dhabi’s National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels (NCTH) is investing in four new hotel projects in the UAE’s biggest emirate, according to deputy managing director Fahad Al Awadi.
Speaking to TTN at last month’s Gulf Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM), he said, “Abu Dhabi is a great investment opportunity at the moment, and as one of the major hotel companies in the emirate, we are investing in four new projects,” he said, confirming that the company is playing a role as investor and developer. He said the company expects the first hotel to be completed early in 2009.
“Two of the new properties will be on the main island of Abu Dhabi, while the other two will be offshore. In terms of the kind of product, one of the hotels will be a conference hotel, another a super deluxe city hotel, and the others will be resorts,” he said.
NCTH’s hotel management arm, Danat, which runs the Danat Resort Jebel Dhanna and the Al Raha Beach Hotel, will manage one of these four new hotels, while the others will be handled by international operating companies.
“Totally, we will have about 10 per cent of the rooms that Abu Dhabi needs. That is our plan,” Al Awadi said.
Responding to a question on investing outside Abu Dhabi, such as its investment in the Hilton Rabat, he said the company would go wherever it saw a feasible opportunity. “We will go into investment with either already operational hotels with minimum share investment or major shareholding.”
The NCTH was formed in 1996 as a semi-government joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Investment Company. Its primary objective is to promote Abu Dhabi as an international destination, supervise and manage hotels and provide transportation and catering services.
by Keith J Fernandez