Major expansion of Abu Dhabi's hospitality portfolio in ATM spotlight

The properties in many cases represent the arrival in the UAE capital of major award-winning hospitality brands and will significantly boost the destination's previously challenged room inventory.

In the line up is Le Bristol Abu Dhabi - the first non-European property from the legendary Parisien hospitality brand Hotel Le Bristol. The 250-room and suite ultra-luxury property is being brought to the UAE capital by Abu Dhabi's National Corporation For Tourism & Hotels (NCTH).

It will be on the western side of the UAE capital with construction due to begin next year and expected to take two years to complete. NCTH is also expanding its Al Raha Beach Hotel, doubling its room numbers, adding three more restaurants and upgrading its spa.

Also in the ATM limelight will be the seven hotels being built by Aldar on Yas Island and which are due to open in time for this November's Formula 1™ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the ADNEC Capital Centre's aloft Abu Dhabi - the first aloft in the Middle East which again is due to open by November and with 408 rooms, the brand's largest.

Visitors to the Abu Dhabi pavilion - the largest at ATM - will also hear of the planned four-star Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, which is due to open by the year end completing the Qaryat Al Beri 'destination-in-a-destination' project. The hotel will be operated by Shangri-la Asia Limited - Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel company, which operates the Traders brand. Designed with the business traveller in mind, Traders Hotel Qaryat Al Beri will have 301 guest rooms and suites and conference rooms.

The focus though is not solely centred on the capital city - but on the wider emirate, with the opening up of tourism in Abu Dhabi's Al Gharbia (Western) region and the expansion of the Eastern region's offering, including Al Ain.

DBA & Sons Travel & Tours says it recently opened an office in Al Gharbia and is working on plans to promote the famed Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) desert.

"Our group has already taken over two good hotels in the region - Liwa Hotel and Mirfa Hotel, which is currently being renovated and refurbished and we anticipate opening a new office soon in Al Ain to service clients from the growth areas of Central and Eastern Europe, the Far East and Australia,"

explained Rashed Saif Alketbi, Director.

And Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) will be promoting its Qasr Al Sarab (Mirage Palace) desert resort which is due to open by the end of the year in the famed Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) section of the Liwa Desert.

In addition to expansions and new-build, Abu Dhabi exhibitors will be rolling out a host of new property upgrades and products ahead of June's implementation of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority's (ADTA) hotel classification scheme which will star-rate the emirate's 49 hotels and 46 hotel apartment properties.

Abu Dhabi's ATM pavilion - organised by the ADTA - will feature over 40 sharing companies. The ADTA is targeting 2.7m annual hotel guest arrivals for the emirate by 2012 - a target, it says, will require an accommodation room inventory in excess of 25,000. Last year Abu Dhabi achieved 1.5m hotel guest arrivals with an available room stock of 12,544.