Kempinski announces plans to hire 22,500 new employees world-wide

The group's chief operating officer, Mr. Duncan O'Rourke, said the UAE and the rest of the region remained the fastest growing market for Kempinski, adding that the group recorded great results in the country during 2012 because of an economic upturn and a surge in tourists.

In remarks after a recruiting event held at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, he said such an upsurge has prompted the group to open the door for new hires from the UAE and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

He said general managers of Kempinski hotels from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia attended Friday's event, during which they met both internal and external candidates to be considered for 600 positions currently available in Kempinski hotels world-wide. He noted that the candidates were selected from more than 7,000 applicants.

"High growth in our business in the UAE has prompted plans hire new employees here as well as in our hotels around the world...Our group now needs nearly 5,000 new employees until 2015 to face business growth in the UAE and the rest of the region," Mr. O'Rourke said.

He said Kempinski operates 11 hotels in the MENA region and plans to expand to 22 hotels by 2015, adding such plans will prompt further job expansions that will attract graduates from the UAE and other GCC members as well as other countries.

"This plan is part of a worldwide expansion strategy by Kempinski to boost the number of its hotels to 121 by 2015...the plan involves hotels, resorts and apartment hotels in various countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria," Mr. O'Rourke said, adding that Kempinski opened its latest hotels in the UAE, Bahrain, and the Seychelles.

He said that the Middle East, India, and Africa are some of the targeted areas for expansion plans by the group and that Kempinski would push ahead with such plans in various parts of the region.

Asked about Kempinski's policies towards job creation in the UAE, Mr. O'Rourke said: "We are always working to develop our human resources in the countries where we operate in order to attract qualified national candidates and give them good positions."

He said the hiring of new employees during the open-day on Friday would allow Kempinski to meet its business needs not only at hotels inaugurated in 2012 but at those planned for the coming years. He noted that several new hotels are nearing completion in the coming year, including Kempinski Al Othman in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Kempinski Burj Rafal in Riyadh and another Kempinski hotel in Jeddah. Two Kempinski hotels are also under development in Lebanon, he added.

In 2013, Kempinski is planning to open its second hotel in Cairo, the Kempinski Royal Maxim Hotel located in New Cairo, Kempinski Villa Rosa Hotel in Nairobi, Olare Mara Kempinski luxury tented camp in Kenya, and Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, Ghana, Mr Roorke said.

"Our trademark European hospitality symbolizes luxury...this makes us a major player in the Gulf and the Arab region...our hotels recorded remarkable growth in the first half of this year, with the group's hotels like Emirates Palace, Kempinski Mall Emirates and Kempinski Palm Jumeirah Residence registering 100 per cent room occupancy at weekends since late 2011," he said.

He said most of the guests at UAE-based Kempinski hotels come from the other GCC countries, adding that this demonstrates the "high quality of our services."

"Kempinski hotels have managed to maintain their high status as one of the best European hotel groups for more than a century...in the Gulf, we launched business in 1998 and today Kempinski operates in all GCC countries, which provide 38 per cent of the group's revenue," he said.

In other remarks, Suha Haroun Mardelli, Human Resources Director at Bayt.com employment website, said the economic recovery in the UAE has prompted many companies to hire again.

She said Bayt.com, which has nearly 9.5 million registered members, provides thousands of job openings in the UAE every year, adding that the job sector would continue to grow in the UAE due to a steady expansion in the private sector.

She said around 66% of the UAE's private sector firms need to increase the number of their employees in 2013, mainly in such sectors as the oil & gas, banking, finance, services and of course - hospitality.

"The open-day organized at the Emirates Palace Hotel is a positive indication of the economic upturn in the UAE."

Kempinski has two more Career Days planned in the next four months with the third annual worldwide event scheduled for the 2nd of March in Munich, Germany, and the second regional Chinese Career Day planned for the 23rd of March.