Burj Dubai development adds over 2,000 rooms to city's thriving hotel industry

The hotels have been carefully selected by the property major to reflect every singular facet of the development the centrepiece of which will be the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building. The major hotels chains that will be represented in the most prestigious address on earth include three in The Old Town, two on the Burj Dubai Boulevard, The Dubai Mall hotel, a Burj Dubai Business Park hotel and the Burj Dubai Lake Hotel.

These will add over 2,000 rooms to Dubai's booming hotel industry which crossed a major milestone by playing host to a record 5.42 million guests at 371 hotels and hotel apartments, earning a total of AED6.2 billion in revenues in the year 2004.

According to latest reports, Dubai will need 45,000 additional rooms in the next five years to cope with the expected tourist boom and about 18,000 are in the pipeline up to 2008. There are 45 confirmed hospitality developments planned for this period.

"By offering over 2,000 rooms within the Burj Dubai Development to the burgeoning hospitality sector right in the heart of Dubai's downtown and within sight of the world's most famous landmarks, Emaar is once again strengthening Dubai's image as the lifestyle destination of the Middle East," said Robert Booth, Executive Director, Emaar Properties.

"In creating this exclusive district, Emaar is responding to a convergence of social and economic trends, including consumer demand for greater convenience and a variety of hotel properties that reflect this mixed use community," added Booth. "Designer opulence and fine food will be prime ingredients of boutique hotels while top quality facilities, unlike any seen in this part of the world, will give the business hotels a distinct edge."

"Downtown Dubai at Burj Dubai, with its wonderful elements of elegant and distinctive living, will attract an anticipated 15 million tourists and businessmen to Dubai per annum by the end of this decade. Visitors to Dubai, like anywhere in the world, don't want to spend their time tied up in traffic. It makes life a lot easier if you can live, work, shop and entertain in the same place."

The several billions of dollars invested in Dubai on a swathe of strategic real estate and infrastructure projects are turning the hospitality sector into a major contributor to the emirate's emerging knowledge-based economy. Resources and technology - especially information and communication technology - are also being strategically employed in Dubai to create an advanced hospitality and business environment that is designed to serve knowledge-based ventures and up-market travelers, as well as upscale property buyers.

"As Dubai steps up the pace of economic diversification, focusing on services and niche industries hospitality, in its broad meaning, is increasingly becoming the most attractive sector for investment," he concluded.

The Burj Dubai Development comprises The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping and entertainment complex; The Residences, an exclusive upscale series of high-rise apartment towers; an Office Park; Burj Dubai Lake Hotel, Burj Views, The Old Town, a low-rise traditional residences community inspired by the stylist antiquity of Arabian architecture; and The Burj Dubai Boulevard, a 3.5 km stretch that binds the entire district and gives it an international ambience, besides man-made lakes and landscaped parks.