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This has fuelled renewed interest in the palace-style hotels that once pampered kings and aristocrats more than a century ago.
As a result, exquisite restorations of such ancient structures, including cave dwellings and Bedouin camps (some dating to the first century) coupled with modern luxuries such as air conditioning and Bulgari toiletries are now available to luxury travellers across the Middle East, from Bethlehem to the Turkish hinterlands.
And new hotels are going up "at breakneck speed", says Lorna Clarke, director of the survey. This tourism is transforming the Middle East, particularly Dubai, says Albert Herrera, vice president of luxury hotel reservation service Virtuoso.
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"When I first came in 1999, they were giving hotel rooms away," he says. "Now tourism is their biggest revenue source, and it's having rippling effects on other economies in the region."
Indeed, the average gross domestic product in the Middle East grew 5.4 per cent in 2007 (compared to 3.4 per cent for the rest of the world), according to Deloitte's report, in part because of the tourist boom.
Sensational spots
Buildings like the Burj Al-Arab in Dubai and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi are following a trend started in the mid-1960s, when Middle Eastern architects began their painstaking renovations of palaces and ancient monasteries.
The Emir Amin Palace Hotel in Beiteddine, Lebanon, was the first of these; restored by the late Lebanese architect Pierre El-Khoury in 1965, it was originally built by Emir Bashir Shihab II for his son, and was inhabited by the Emirs for centuries.
It is part local monument, part upscale hotel with its historical brandishes serving as the décor for an otherwise modern-looking space.
The Emir Amin is near several of Lebanon's most important monarchical artefacts, including the Beiteddine Palace and the Moukhtara Palace, the latter built upon the site of a crusade-era castle. The 22 elegant, spacious guest rooms and stunning views of the Shouf Mountains from the garden afford guests an exclusive perspective of the lifestyle of princes and the land they once roamed.
Ciragan Palace
Istanbul's 282-room Ciragan Palace, on the Bosphorus Sea, is another restored Ottoman Palace. The home of a line of Ottoman sultans before the property was finally handed over to the municipality at the beginning of the 20th century, it was partially restored in 1991 by the Kempsinki Group for $100m.
An additional $5 million was spent last year to finish the 31 guest suites.
Staff Reporter
