Dubai: Highlighting Dubai’s hotel performance and outlook for 2013 will take centre stage at this year’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC). An annual conference, held just before the region’s biggest travel show, the Arabian Travel Market, AHIC 2013 will see the top hotel investment industry professionals discussing the positive outlook of certain markets, as well as addressing the issue of country risk which pertains to doing business within some areas of the Middle East, the organisers said in a statement on Sunday.
Citing Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) latest Hotel Investor Sentiment Survey, the statement added that Dubai the best performing hotel market in the Middle East and North Africa region and is the one to watch in 2013.
According to the JLL report, Dubai’s total capacity will witness a big jump from the 54,300 rooms currently available with an additional 4,500 hotel rooms expected to be completed in 2013, and a total 11,000 units in the pipeline through until 2014.
This year’s conference will take place from May 5-6 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, and will be held under the theme ‘Connecting People, Creating Knowledge’.
It will see key industry professionals from well-known hotel groups such as Jumeriah Group, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, InterContinental Hotels Group, IFA Hotel Investments, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Hilton Worldwide, Accor, and so on, be a part of various panel discussions addressing the regional as well as global trends in the hotels industry.
One of the panel discussions, titled ‘The Profitability of a New Build in Dubai’, will focus on key areas in Dubai where the potential for hotel investment lies, and the anticipated profitability. It will also highlight what, where and how investors should build today and what returns they can anticipate for the next five years.
On similar lines, a special panel discussion, targeted at discussing ‘Country Risk in the Region’, will be aimed at helping investors know how to plan their investment strategy even as political uncertainty clouds some countries in the region, and what the investment landscape is for those looking to go into new markets.
Yet another panel discussion will focus on how funding a hotel project is different than other real estate projects.
