Nearly 100 hotels are expected to come onstream in the UAE over the next five years even as supply exceeds demand.
Figures from the analytics company STR show that at the end of January the UAE had about 29,000 hotel rooms in the pipeline – the second-highest in the region after Saudi Arabia, which has 37,000 rooms across 85 hotels over the same time period.
The new hotel openings in the UAE include Ramee Grand Hotel and Spa in Dubai’s Business Bay. The Dh350 million, 200-room project is expected to open in 2019 and will be owned by the Dubai-based Ramee Group.
Saudi and the UAE were followed by 8,462 rooms in 34 projects in Qatar and 5,734 rooms in 14 projects in Egypt.
In Middle East overall, there were a total of 159,581 rooms across 556 hotel projects in the pipeline. In Africa, there were 58,850 rooms across 313 projects.
In the UAE, hotels in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have felt pressure on room rates as more properties come onstream.
In Abu Dhabi alone, the average hotel room rate dropped 10 per cent year-on-year in January to Dh465.80 as supply outstripped demand, according to STR.
Conferences in the city, such as the two-day Global Space Congress, helped to cushion the drop in the average occupancy rates. The average occupancy rate in the capital was 74.2 per cent, a drop of 1.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.
In Saudi Arabia, Mecca is the largest market for hotels, given the large number of pilgrims it attracts.
The number of visitors is expected to rise in the medium term as the ministry of Haj and Umrah removed the quota on the number of foreign pilgrims this year, according to consultancy Colliers International.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now