Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor

This famous Dubai family has business interests focused particularly in the UAE and Lebanon including construction, hotels, real estate, education, insurance, automobile dealerships and publishing. Its latest addition is the fabulous 442-room Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, comprising two towers of 18 and 25 storeys each on the Jumeirah beach.

'The hotel is the first of several projects to announce this autumn. These will be mainly in the UAE,' says Mr. Al Habtoor who started his multi-billion dollar business empire from nothing 35 years ago. ''

Does that mean that Lebanon is now on the back burner since the assassination of Rafiq Hariri? What does the Habtoor Group think of the new government there?

'Lebanon has to change its investment laws. It is an old system and it needs to be changed. And as far as the new government is concerned, I am very positive. At least it is headed by a businessman, so we are not putting our development plans there on hold.'

In the UAE Mr. Habtoor is also impressed with the approach of the new government. He hails its wide consultation of business for the new commercial law as a 'success' and a very good sign for the future.

'This is the first time in the UAE that we have the government undertaking such a consultation. It used to be the government and lawyers who decided everything and then told the business community. Not so now. Particularly the Dubai Council gives us representation under the chairmanship of Abdulaziz Al Ghurair.'

He also hinted that the Al Habtoor Group might float its hospitality and trading interests on the local stock market, if rule changes in the new commercial law allow owners to keep control of listed companies - at present they can not retain more than 45% of shares after an initial public offering.

'We have commissioned a study to evaluate this and assess the value of our hospitality and trading portfolio,' he said. 'Once we have completed the report we will make our decision in the light of the new listing rules.'

Mr. Habtoor is not surprisingly bullish about the business outlook for his beautiful new five-star hotel, built on the site of his previous four-star Dubai Metropolitan Beach Club hotel which is still open for business and shares the same beach facilities. He rejects the idea that fuel surcharges may begin to effect tourism.

'Life goes on whatever happens to fuel prices,' he says. 'Just look at the type of people who come to Dubai compared with a few years ago. The quality of people is definitely better.

'We don't want the cheap group tourists who don't spend more than Dhs200 a day. This is not good business for this country. We want people who will spend on jewelry and electronics and enjoy themselves.'

Guests at the new $200 million Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa will certainly find they have plenty of choice of entertainment. The 13 restaurants range from Asian fusion to Italian and international, as well as modern Arabic seafood and a 25th floor signature French fine dining restaurant.

All the 442 rooms and suites in the hotel have the latest in LCD TVs, and for Internet fans the whole hotel has wireless access which extends outside so that you can actually surf on the beach. The group recently rebranded its Metropolitan Hotels and Resorts as Habtoor Hospitality, and has its eighth hotel under development on The Palm, Jumeirah.

'We will continue to manage the hotels that we own but we are not going to manage those that we do not own,' said Mr. Al Habtoor.