Dubai is set to reach the 200,000 hotel rooms milestone by the end of this decade, global hospitality industry executives said on Wednesday.
Sébastien Bazin, Group Chairman and CEO of Accor, said as long as the Gulf countries have 5-7 year plans, “nobody should be betting against the GCC”.
While speaking during the Skift Global Forum East, a day-two conference taking place in Dubai, he ruled out overcapacity as the Asia and Gulf regions have been “building a true tourism plan.”
The hospitality firm was one of the major hospitality services providers for the Fifa World Cup in Qatar and helped meet the needs of accommodation during the mega event.
Timothy Kelly, president, Atlantis Global, said Dubai is set to have the highest number of hotel rooms in the next couple of years, surpassing Las Vegas, as the emirate witnesses strong growth in tourist numbers and also the inflow of new hotels.
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“There are many products on the horizon that want to emulate the secret sauce for the recipe of what Dubai is. If you think of where this destination has evolved to today, soon it will have more hotel rooms than any other city or destination in the world. Las Vegas holds honour with about 155,000 rooms. By the end of the next 2-3 years, we’ll have 160,000 rooms in Dubai and growing close to 200,000 by the end of the decade,” he said.
According to Dubai Tourism, hotel inventory at the end of December 2022 comprised of 146,496 rooms at 804 hotel establishments, compared to 126,120 rooms available at the end of December 2019 across 741 establishments. The total number of hotels in 2022 marked a six per cent growth over 2021, with 755 hotel establishments offering 137,950 rooms.
While speaking during the Skift Global Forum East, a day-two conference taking place in Dubai, Kelly pointed out that not only supply is coming into the market, but there is demand also to support it.
Hard to catch Dubai
“The amount of properties that they’ve been able to unveil and bring into the market, there’s demand for that as the emirate has great infrastructure and great relationships. I’ve worked in other epicentres of hospitality, and it’s a different form and frame of thinking here. The government is your partner and your friend, a reliable resource, but so is your neighbour next door,” Atlantis President said during the panel discussion on Wednesday.
He pointed out that the other cities will time take time to catch up because there’s a lot that has to happen there. “You have to have that skill, infrastructure and skilled labour that can support your business and deliver that service and that reputation. I see that it will be hard to catch Dubai in the coming decade,” he said.
“One of our great success stories in Atlantis is here, as well as what we would aspire to continue to want to deliver as well… I say a lot about Dubai in particular, having worked in the epicentres of the world, is that this is really one of the very final frontiers of hospitality,” he added.