Rotana exits luxury hotel property in Syria

Abu Dhabi-based hotel operator Rotana pulls out of its Latakia property citing unstable political situation while continuing with its Damascus hotel.

Syria's hospitality industry has been hit by the ongoing conflict. Above, damaged structures in Damascus. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

The Abu Dhabi-based hotel operator Rotana has pulled out of its luxury property in Latakia, Syria, citing the country’s instability.

The hotel operator announced yesterday it had suspended its contract with Afamia Tourist Resort Company to manage the beachfront Afamia Rotana Resort.

“Due to the political situation there we could not keep up to the standards of Rotana and decided to pull out,” said Amal Harb, a spokeswoman for the group.

Guests booked through Rotana at the 190-room Latakia property, which has rates starting at US$160 per night, will not be affected, she said.

The closure is not expected to hit Rotana’s bottom line.

“Syria had been having difficulties for a while,” Ms Harb said.

Besides the Latakia property, which opened in 2009, the company manages the 110-room hotel apartment Queen Centre Arjaan by Rotana in Damascus. Both properties had occupancy rates of 20 to 30 per cent, according to Omer Kaddouri, the president and chief executive of Rotana, last month.

The group plans to continue operations in Damascus, Ms Harb said.

It had also started four other properties in Syria, including three in Damascus and one in Homs, but all of them have been on hold since 2008.

The hospitality industry in Syria, similar to rest of the Levant, including Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, continues to struggle as the political situation remains uncertain, according to Philip Wooller, the area director of the Middle East and Africa for the research company STR Global.

The travel and tourism sector was expected to directly contribute 122.3 billion Syrian pounds (Dh3.14bn) last year, down 5.9 per cent on 2012 levels of 130bn Syrian pounds, or 4.7 per cent of the total GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) last year.

The decline affects the economic activity of hotels, travel agents and airlines, the WTTC said, adding the sector was expected to have supported 178,000 jobs, or 3.6 per cent of total employment, last year, down 11.3 per cent from 2012.

Other international operators in the Syrian capital include Four Seasons and despite the current troubles in Syria, the long-term growth prospects of the tourism sector in the country holds promise, according to the WTTC.

The WTTC expected the country to have attracted 2.81 million international tourists last year.