Marriott International announced 13 deal signings in Turkey comprising over 2,000 rooms.
25.08.2023 - 13:54 / skift.com / Lake Geneva / Peden Doma Bhutia / Carolyn Kremins
Jumeirah Hotels is keen to invest in more properties in Europe. Having recently acquired Le Richemond in Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, Jumeirah with a 26-property portfolio now has five hotels in Europe.
“We do realize that the way to grow at the pace we want to is to invest. And we do have a strategy to continue investing in trophy assets and key assets,” said Katerina Giannouka, CEO of Jumeirah Group in conversation with Skift President Carolyn Kremins during the Future of Lodging Forum in London on Wednesday.
With a large proportion of its portfolio being based in the Middle East, Dubai specifically, Giannouka said the market’s booming and that has given the company financial capabilities to expand its business.
Talking about investing in more properties in Europe, Giannouka said in the medium term Jumeirah also wants to grow through hotel management agreements.
“We’re looking for key assets and places that are of interest to us and continue to be in Europe,” she said.
With five hotels in Asia, the group is also keen to continue to invest in the continent. “And then you’ve got the Americas. We do have plans to strategically grow the portfolio to those regions,” Giannouka said.
In terms of emerging markets, Giannouka said the hotel group has a pipeline that reflects some of its interests.
With a hotel at the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia opening next year, a hotel opening this year in Mecca, Giannouka also spoke about a hotel opening at the Formula 1 circuit in Bahrain, and hotels in Muscat and Dubai.
Speaking about wealth that’s transitioning now through generations and the emerging middle class, Giannouka said there’s a lot of volume of travel coming from luxury travelers in the region.
Looking a bit further afield, she spoke about the very strong China outbound market that’s starting to come back right now.
“A lot of it depends on air capacity and visa-free travel, even issuance of passports in China as there’s still limitations on travel outside of China, but with that market coming back we’re super excited to welcome back Chinese travelers,” she said.
Jumeirah has also noted a 25 percent increase in demand from sub-Saharan Africa and southern Africa. Giannouka is confident that the demand from this region would continue at double-digit growth.
And while these may be niche markets, the Jumeirah CEO observed the emergence of a new middle class and high net-worth individuals coming out of those African and sub-Saharan African states.
She also made note of demand coming from the India market and spoke about being able to cater to that market.
With dining becoming an experience, especially in Dubai, Giannouka spoke about the emergence of branded concepts, “Branded food and beverage at a really different
Marriott International announced 13 deal signings in Turkey comprising over 2,000 rooms.
Ankit Gupta, the India CEO of hospitality technology platform Oyo, and Mandar Vaidya, the head of Oyo’s European operations, will both be moving on from the company.
In the second quarter of 2023, the Middle East’s hotel construction pipeline has seen significant growth, marking its highest project count since the first quarter of 2020, according to Lodging Econometric’s Middle East Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) is set to get a AED 6 billion-AED 10 billion ($1.6 billion-$2.7 billion) mega expansion in the next 5-7 years.
Clearly Vinod Kannan, the CEO of Vistara, may have had to field this question on the possible Vistara-Air India merger one too many times.
Jongyoon Kim, the CEO of South Korea-based superapp Yanolja, sees Tesla as the metaphor for its company highlighting how the electronic vehicle company has been rethinking the entire value chain.
The United Arab Emirates government on Sunday announced the lifting of all precautionary measures implemented in the country during Covid-19. With the lifting of restrictions, wearing of masks has now been made optional in all open and closed facilities, including places of worship and mosques. However, those categorized as “people of determination” would be required to wear mask while visiting health facilities and centers. The Al Hosn app would now only be required to furnish proof of vaccination and for test results inside and outside the country, when required. The green pass on the app would no longer be required to enter public facilities and sites. The requirement of a polymerase chain reaction test would also no longer be made mandatory for those attending or participating at sporting events. The authorities said they have decided to ease the restrictions after studying the epidemiological situation in the country and having monitored occupancy rates in hospitals and intensive care for Covid cases.
Malaysia’s Capital A will not be merging its airlines, but will instead move all the carriers under one existing structure, similar to how British Airways, Iberia Airline, and Aer Lingus operate under the International Airlines Group umbrella, said CEO Tony Fernandes on Monday.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, December 16, and we are headed back from a successful Skift Forum in Dubai. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
The Middle East is leading international travel recovery in the fourth quarter as inbound arrivals to the region witnessed an increase of 4 percent, long ahead of the global average of a decrease of 30 percent, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. “The FIFA World Cup is certainly the key driver for its travel recovery,” said Juan Gomez, head of market intelligence at ForwardKeys. The latest air ticketing data by ForwardKeys also shows that international arrival levels may be back to normal in 2023, with travel to the Middle East up by 15 percent on pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter. Overall, the outlook for 2023 looks promising, despite high inflation in key source markets and the looming recession, FowardKeys noted. The Middle East is also attracting more premium travellers than in 2019, the travel analytics firm noted with Saudi Arabia showing the greatest growth. Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon are also showing growth, with a regional average of 11 percent above 2019.
Online travel agency Trip.com Group hopes that cross-border travel capacity for China will be back to normal by the third quarter of this year.
Having witnessed a stronger than expected recovery in 2022, the Middle East could see international tourist arrivals return to pre-pandemic levels this year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Data from the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer noted that while all regions enjoyed significant increase in international arrivals in 2022 over the previous year, the Middle East recorded the strongest relative increase as international tourist numbers climbed to 83 percent of pre-pandemic numbers last year. “The region welcomed large events such as Expo 2020 Dubai and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as well as a highly attended Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia,” noted UNWTO in its report. “UNWTO anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty,” Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili said. UNWTO noted that over 900 million tourists travelled internationally in 2022, which was double the number of those who travelled in 2021 though still 37 percent below 2019.