7.8 million more Arabian nights (page 1 of 2)

The region-wide survey of future upmarket hotel developments was undertaken by the Dubai office of TRI Hospitality Consulting, which identified 80 upcoming hotels and 21,283 future rooms in the Arabian Peninsula - the equivalent of 7,768,295 room nights of supply per annum.

Although the largest single market remains the UAE, with 11,922 rooms due to become available between now and 2008 (9,628 of which are in Dubai alone), the GCC markets expected to make the largest gains are Qatar, with a projected 145 per cent increase in room supply, and Kuwait, with an anticipated 75 per cent increase in room supply. The markets expected to make the smallest gains in available rooms per annum over their existing supply are Bahrain (23 per cent), and Saudi Arabia (6 per cent) which is somewhat distorted by a very large number of 4 and 5-star hotels.

"The key word in our survey is 'confirmed'," says Peter Goddard, Managing Director of the Dubai office of TRI, the world's leading management consultancy in the fields of hotels, tourism, leisure and real estate.

"In Dubai, in particular, there is an element of confusion surrounding which hotel developments have been confirmed and which are still in the pre-feasibility stage. On The Palm, Jumeirah, for example, there's a great deal of buzz surrounding all of the proposed hotel projects. According to our research, nine are confirmed so far. While I have every confidence that there will be in the region of 30 to 40 hotel projects when The Palm is complete, TRI's research has culminated in the most accurate snapshot of the current status of hotel developments in the region."

According to data posted on TRI's Middle East website, the confirmed hotel and resort projects on The Palm, Jumeirah, are the first two phases of Kerzner International's Atlantis, the Hilton Palace, the Metropolitan, two Radisson SAS properties (one each on The Palm's Crescent and Trunk), The Fairmont Palm Hotel and Resort, The Fairmont Palm Vacation Club and The Palm Sun Hotel and Resort.

The area of Dubai with the most confirmed hotel developments, however, is Sheikh Zayed Road / Al Barsha, with 12 future hotels confirmed, offering 2,948 rooms. Included among them is the five-star, 250-room Armani Hotel in the Burj Dubai development, which is due to open in 2008, and the five-star, 400-room Kempinski Hotel in the Mall of the Emirates, which is due to open in November 2005. On Dubai's world famous Jumeirah coast, seven hotel and resort developments were identified as confirmed. Among the six confirmed hotels and resorts north of Dubai Creek, are the five-star, 225-room Park Hyatt at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club and two five-star deluxe properties, a Four Seasons and InterContinental, at Dubai Festival City.

"The large scale, landmark hotel and resort developments currently underway in Dubai speak volumes of the tremendous growth of the emirate as an exciting tourist destination," says Goddard.

Elsewhere in the UAE, Abu Dhabi's future supply of five confirmed hotels includes the landmark, Kempinski-operated Bani Yas Palace Hotel and Conference Centre, while Fujeirah's four confirmed hotel developments include the five-star Kempinski Fujeirah Resort and the Robinson Club.

In Qatar, where the hotel sector has been given new impetus by the staging of the Asian Games in 2006, there are 13 confirmed hotel projects with a future supply of 3,118 rooms by 2007.