Ireland-based Grand Midwest Group, which opened its third apartment hotel in Dubai yesterday, plans to launch two more properties in the UAE.
"Although we had planned more properties but because of the economic downturn we will concentrate on launching the two planned projects by 2010," Group Chairman Muhmmad Zafar Shah Khan told Emirates Business. But he declined to reveal the investment figures.
"The hospitality sector in Dubai and the region may not be immune to the current global economic slowdown but we do see strong potential for growth in the medium to long term."
Coner Lenihan, Ireland's Minister for Integration, inaugurated the 46-storey Grand Midwest building next to Internet City.
He said new businesses were still being established despite the negative messages that were being spread across the world.
"Even in Ireland there was a tsunami of negativity," he added. "We have to puncture this negativity."
The group, whose room inventory now stands at 500, operates the Grand Midwest Express near Ibn Battuta Mall and the Grand Midwest Deluxe Hotel Apartment in Bur Dubai.
In addition, the company has the Pavilion Hotel in Sussex Gardens, London, and the Hotel Capri in Dublin and manages fast food chains in Ireland.
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