Dubai: Jumeirah Group expects revenue of its UAE hotels under management to grow by at least 50 per cent between now and 2020, when Dubai hosts the World Expo 2020, Gerald Lawless, president and CEO of Jumeirah Group, told Gulf News in an interview.
The six-month Expo 2020 is likely to attract 25 million visitors to the emirate.
“The drivers [of revenue] will be more hotels. I could see something between 8-10 hotels for Jumeirah within Dubai over the coming years,” he said.
The luxury hotel company, which operates 22 properties worldwide, said operating profit and consolidated revenue grew by eight per cent last year over 2012. It, however, did not disclose the actual numbers. Lawless did not comment when asked about revenue forecast for this year.
Occupancy and average room rates across its owned and leased portfolio were up five per cent last year, which led revenue per available room (RevPAR- a benchmark for performance) to grow by 11 per cent.
Lawless said that there are no plans to issue a bond to raise more finance this year. In 2013, Jumeirah said it raised a $1.4 billion unsecured syndicated loan due in 2019 to help finance its expansion.
Expansion
Lawless said Jumeirah is very close to signing management agreements in Saudi Arabia,
“We hope to make an announcement for at least one hotel in Saudi Arabia by the end of September.” He declined to specify where the property is expected to open, but said Jumeirah would like to be present in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar.
With properties in the UAE and Kuwait, and soon in Oman and Saudi Arabia, Jumeirah is in talks to sign hotel management agreements in Qatar and Bahrain, according to Lawless.
It is also looking at opportunities in Iran, and within the UAE, in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi.
Jumeirah has 15 signed properties in its development pipeline, which are expected to open between now and mid-2017.
Five of those properties are in China, including Jumeirah Guangzhou, Jumeirah Macau, Jumeirah Clearwater Bay Resort in Sanya, Jumeirah Hangzhou and Jumeirah Thousand Island Lake Resort, Qiandaohu.
Also in the pipeline are Jumeirah Bali, which is likely to open in 2016, and Jumeirah at Saraya Bandar Jissah in Oman in two-and-a-half to three years’ time.
Meanwhile, work on the new Madinat Jumeirah Hotel, which the company refers to as the fourth phase of Madinat Jumeirah, is in progress and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2015.
