Dubai hotels not expecting slowdown
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Dubai’s hospitality industry is well-positioned to handle the fallout from any drop in tourist numbers resulting from the current economic slowdown, the Gulf News has reported industry experts as saying.
“Non-essential business travel and leisure travel will inevitability be hit by an economic slowdown. But the UAE is in a better position than other regions to tackle the situation,” said Guy Wilkinson, Partner of Dubai-based hospitality and real estate consulting firm, Viability.
Tourist arrivals are expected to jump from 7 million last year to 15 million by 2015, and the hotel sector is rapidly expanding from its current inventory of 50,000 rooms in preparation of this. But its large quota of luxury resorts, such as Kerzner’s soon-to-open Atlantis the Palm resort, will help the city ride out the current storm, according to Wilkinson.
“Dubai has positioned itself as a destination for wealthy tourists and these people will still be travelling, so the impact will be less than in places like Egypt or Spain,” he said.
Meanwhile Bilal Sayyed, General Manager of travel company, Destinations of the World, agrees that new high-spending markets are the key to prosperity. “In a slowdown scenario, markets like Russia will become more important as a source of tourists. It is a luxury segment that has benefited Dubai hotels,” Sayyed was quoted as saying.
In these troubled times, the vision and grandeur of Dubai’s development may be its saving grace. Luxury goods are, after all, said to be recession-proof.
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