Dubai to host hotel forum

The first Middle East Hotel Investment Forum will be held ahead of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC 2013), organised by MEED and Bench Events, at Madinat Jumeirah from May 5-6.

The forum will feature Jones Lang Lasalle brokers from the UAE, USA, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Singapore and South America, and will provide hotel investors with an insight into hotel deals closed in 2012 and opportunities available in 2013.

This comes as a part of several invitation only regional briefings organised by AHIC, ahead of this year's event, bringing together the local community and providing an intelligence update on the local hotel market for investors. Briefings have taken place in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar with representatives from each local investment, finance and development arm.

According to Gabriel Matar, head of hotels and hospitality Middle East and Africa at Jones Lang Lasalle, "Hotel demand has recovered impressively in the Middle East since the Arab Spring, led by hotels in Dubai which recorded high occupancy levels, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) moving towards its peak of 2008. For 2013, we expect a further improvement in performance in the UAE on the back of continued growth in international arrivals. Dubai, the 'safe haven' of the region, is expected to achieve a further growth in RevPAR. The increased tourist arrivals to the GCC region have grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.5 per cent over 2002-2011, significantly above the global growth of 3.7 per cent."

He adds: "In 2012, Middle Eastern investors were one of the most active buyers of hotel real estate, acquiring assets with a total value of $1.7 billion about 15 per cent of total investment volumes in EMEA. In 2013, we expect Middle Eastern investors predominantly from the UAE and Qatar, to remain one of the most active buyers of European hotel real estate."

Matar also predicts that in the Middle East, development activity will pace ahead with financing often provided by public funds. The region is expected to open 150 new hotels in 2013 with the majority opening in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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Last year global hotel transactions reached $31.8 billion, a 5 per cent decrease on 2011. For 2013 the industry is expecting a slight improvement to $33 billion, despite continued economic uncertainties, with activity supported by the primary investment markets of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Japan and Australia.

 

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