Dubai: US-based hotel chain Marriott International is looking to be present at Dubai World Central (DWC), the company’s top executive told Gulf News in an interview.
The World Expo 2020, which Dubai won the bid to host last year, will be held at Dubai Trade Centre-Jebel Ali, the exhibition district at DWC. The six-month exhibition is expected to attract 25 million visitors.
“The entire area of Dubai World Central and the Expo 2020 site are very high on our priority list, and we’re currently in discussions with owners on opportunities in the area,” said Alex Kyriakidis, the company’s president and managing director for the Middle East and Africa. He did not provide additional details.
He did not comment when asked if Marriott is in talks with Dubai Airports about opening a property at Al Maktoum International, Dubai’s second airport, which opened its passenger terminal last year.
On whether the company expects to strike a financial deal or acquisition this year, Kyriakidis said: “For the coming year, there are unlikely to be big deals coming through.”
He did not comment on profit and revenue forecast for the year.
Marriott is working on integrating South Africa-based Protea Hotel Group, which it had acquired this year for $200 million, into the company. This brings the number of its hotels in Africa to 125, with 14,500 rooms. It has 25 hotels in the Africa pipeline.
Expansion
The hotel company is expanding its presence in the Middle East, where it operates 38 hotels, with 20 in the pipeline, which are expected to add 7,000 rooms. Of those, six are set to open in the UAE.
Marriott expects to see the opening of the 312-room Renaissance Dubai Downtown Hotel (in 2015), the Dubai Marriott Hotel Citywalk and Marriott Executive Apartments Dubai City Walk (both in 2016). This will bring the number of Marriott hotels in the UAE to 18.
Marriott plans to boost the number of hotel rooms in Dubai to 10,000 by 2020.
The company has eight of its 18 brands in the Middle East, such as The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott and Marriott Executive Apartments. Kyriakidis said that there are no current plans to bring the rest of the brands to the region.
