Holiday Inn celebrates 50th anniversary in style

In the UAE and Oman, both the Holiday Inn Bur Dubai, and Holiday Inn Muscat each held birthday cake cutting ceremonies, while Holiday Inn Dunes, in Beirut, held an evening staff party, and distributed traditional Lebanese sweets to all hotel guests in a token birthday gesture. In Saudi Arabia, the Al Khobar Holiday Inn offered a 50% discount in its restaurants the first weekend of August, and the Minhal Holiday Inn in Riyadh held a cake cutting party for all hotel staff in recognition of the brands anniversary.

"We are proud to be so well established in the Middle East, and look forward to continued expansion in the region," said David Atkinson, Area Sales and Marketing Director, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Middle East and Africa, where the brand currently has 62 properties.

The first Holiday Inn opened in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, and over the following 50 years, Holiday Inn has become the world's best known hotel name. The Middle East's first Holiday Inn opened in Salalah, Oman in 1977, and since then the brand's portfolio has continued to steadily expand throughout the region.

There are currently 21 Holiday Inn hotels and resorts in the Middle East, and two brand new properties are scheduled to open in Half Moon Bay, in eastern Saudi Arabia, and Doha, Qatar before the end of the year.