Dubai: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is not concerned about lower hotel revenues in Dubai.
“The market is always fluctuating. We are privileged in Dubai in general because we have always enjoyed fantastic RevPAR [revenue per available room],” Pascal Gauvin, chief operating officer for India, the Middle East and Africa, at IHG, said in an interview at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on Tuesday.
RevPAR is an industry measure of occupancy and rates, which has been mostly down year-on-year in the past 12 to 14 months in the city mainly due to the rising supply of hotel rooms and a strong US dollar.
The UK-based hotel chain plans to open 25 hotels in the Middle East and Africa in the next three to five years, of those 11 will open in the UAE and seven in Saudi Arabia. It currently operates 78 properties in the region.
Pipeline
Scheduled to open in the UAE are three InterContinental, three Crowne Plaza, one Holiday Inn, two Staybridge Suites and two Hotel Indigo properties.
IHG also plans to have between 100 and 150 hotels in operation and in the pipeline in India over the next 10-15 years, Gauvin said. It already has 27 hotels in the country.
The growing middle class and increase in domestic travel in India makes it an attractive market for hotel operators, according to Gauvin.
“In India, we are targeting the domestic market. That is why we go with brands like Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express,” he said.
IHG wants to fill a gap in the Indian market for internationally branded midscale hotels, he added.
