GCC to see 38 new hotel rooms per day by year's end

New research by the Dubai-based Proleads shows 48 hotels with 14,178 rooms set to open in 2010, or an average of 38 new rooms per day this year in the GCC, at an estimated cost of $7.3 billion (Dh26.79bn). A panel of hotel industry experts are set to discuss strategies for dealing with the global economic downturn on the hospitality industry at The Hotel Show, which runs at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 18 until May 20. "The Hotel Show provides a useful barometer for the industry on how equipment, materials and service suppliers, marketing and sales strategies are being affected by the uncertain economic climate," said Maggie Moore, Exhibition Director of The Hotel Show. "While much of the recent attention has focused on the impact of the downturn on the hospitality sector, the UAE continues to be one of the world's active areas for hotel openings." She added: "The UAE alone has over 5,700 rooms coming to market in 2010. Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are also seeing increased activity. "Indeed, the Saudi Arabian hospitality sector looks set to grow in tandem with inbound travel on the up, both in terms of religious tourism and business visitors. It is forecast that there will be another 21 hotels with 7,000 hotel rooms in the Kingdom by 2013 – 2,000 of which will open this year." A total of 1,961 new hotel rooms are expected to be added to the Qatar hospitality market during this year, according to Proleads, with a total of 21 new hotels coming online by 2013. Last year, the number of available hotel rooms in the country increased by 25 per cent compared to the previous year.