Dubai’s Palm Islands grow more hotels
DUBAI: Hotel development in Dubai continues to gather pace with tourism leaders confident that new supply will meet soaring demand..
The three palm-shaped islands rising off the coast of the emirate will include more than 200 hotels, developer Nakheel said at Arabian Travel Market this week.
All 30 planned hotels on the Palm Jumeirah have been committed to developers. The first of them, the US$1.2 billion, 1,500-room Atlantis will open at the end of next year.
It will be followed by the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
Sister islands Palm Deira and Palm Jebel Ali will add approximately 180 more hotels.
Current room occupancy rates in Dubai are 83.1%.
Nakheel chief executive Chris O’Donnell said, “Given that Palm Deira will have a population of one million people and Palm Jebel Ali and Dubai Waterfront (which is linked to the island) will have a million people, we’re looking at 180 hotels between the two on top of the 30 on Palm Jumeirah.”
Nakheel will also develop a 1,800-seat theatre on Palm Jumeirah which will be a permanent home for Cirque du Soleil, the first resident show staged by the Canadian company outside the US and Japan.
Emirates Hotels and Resorts is also growing its hotel portfolio. Emirates airline president Tim Clark said, “We cannot build enough hotel rooms quick enough to meet the demand.”
David Smith, chief executive of British think-tank Global Futures and Foresight is leading a research project into Middle East tourism. This week he released the first of three reports on the region covering the period until 2020.
He said, “Across the region, countries, states and cities are embarking on an unparalleled programme of investment and development to increase capacity, improve infrastructures and grow tourists numbers.
“Current estimates suggest that over the next 20 years, upwards of US$3 trillion is going directly into leisure and tourism and indirectly into supporting infrastructure.”
Projects already detailed suggest that by 20220, the region will add airport capacity for 300 million passengers, 100,000 new hotel rooms and grow visitor numbers to 150 million.
“This major study programme will explore the potential implications for such explosive growth and development,” said Smith.
“It is aimed at identifying the drivers and barriers which could sustain, accelerate or curtail the forecasted boom in travel and tourism in the region.”
Ian Jarrett
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