GCC hotel development soars with airline traffic
The aviation sector is continuing to drive the hospitality industry across many of the GCC countries, resulting in a steady rise in hotel RevPar rates and a burgeoning hotel development pipeline.
"The predicted growth of the regional hospitality sector is linked to the continuous growth of the region’s major airlines and improved regional connectivity with low cost airlines, such as Air Arabia and flydubai," said Mark Walsh, portfolio director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, the organisers of Arabian Travel Market.
Arabian Travel Market 2013 will be held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from May 6-9 2013.
UK-based aviation analyst OAG reported that Dubai airport saw the largest growth in long-haul traffic in August, with a 12% increase in flight operations and 14% increase in seat capacity.
During the same month, flight operations to and from the Middle East grew by 7% to 64,252, while seat capacity increased by 8% to reach 14.2 million.
This represents nearly 4,000 more flights and more than a million more seats offered than in August 2011. Traffic within the Middle East region is also expected to grow by 4% for flights and 3% for seats according to OAG data.
In its mid-year Construction Pipeline Report, industry consultancy STR Global tracked a total of 495 hotels and 125,481 rooms across the Middle East & Africa region, with Oman expected to see the largest room growth at 81.2%, if all 5,417 rooms in the country’s total active pipeline come on line.
Significant growth is also on the cards for Saudi Arabia, while Qatar prepares for a tourism spending spree ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament.
Air travel will be one of eight major vertical sectors at next year’s Arabian Travel Market alongside budget travel, careers, health and wellbeing, luxury, shopping, sports, and cruise and water-based travel.
Ian Jarrett
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