Tourism

Qatar signs US$70m hotel deal in Comoros

State-owned Qatar National Hotels said it would invest US$70 million in a luxury hotel resort in Comoros, one of the largest injections of foreign investment into the poor Indian Ocean archipelago. Owned by the Qatar government, the Qatar National Hotels deal is part of a US$540 million pledge to support development in one of the world’s most impoverished countries. In 2008, Dubai World agreed to a similar project to build a top-end hotel on the same site at the northern tip of Grande Comore, the largest of the archipelago’s three islands. But the state-owned global holding company pulled out after the global financial crisis hurt its finances. Mohammad Abdullah Al Roumayh, Qatar’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, said the hotel complex would comprise 150 bedrooms. The Comoros’ heavily-indebted economy is expected to grow by 2 per cent this year from 1.8 per cent in 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Orascom Dvt buys stake in Egyptian Resorts

Swiss-based Orascom Development Holding has bought a 4.5 per cent stake in Egyptian Resorts Co. (EGTS.CA) under a plan to jointly develop resort property on the Red Sea, Orascom said. Orascom Development's subsidiary Orascom Development and Management (ODM) signed a nine-year agreement with Egyptian Resorts (ERC) to develop 2.5 million square meters (618 acres) of ERC property around the existing Sahl Hasheesh resort. A joint statement from the two companies said development would include a marina, more than 4,000 hotel rooms and 2,500 residential units, expected by the end of 2012. "These strategic assets promise to create significant value for the resort in general and help bring added value for both firms," Egyptian Resorts Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Kamel told reporters. "ODM will act as the development manager and will also market and sell the residential estate units surrounding the marine area, which is considered as one of the pillars of the Red Sea resort of Sahl Hasheesh," the statement said. In return, ODM will share revenue and profit under the agreement, Orascom said. It did not specify how much Orascom had paid for its stake.

16 new projects added to MENA's March hotel pipeline

Sixteen new hotel projects were added to the development pipeline of the Middle East and Africa in March, a sharp rise on the previous month. The region now has 473 hotels comprising 127,952 rooms in development, according to the March 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report. February saw a major slowdown in the number of new hotels being planned, with just one new project compared to January.

Bahrain tourism set to boom

Tourism is booming in Bahrain, with major transport projects like the Qatar causeway expected to give it a further fillip. The number of tourists visiting the country this year is expected to reach almost five million, an increase of 6.9 per cent, according to the World Tourism Organisation, which quoted figures from the global market research giant Euromonitor International. Last year's visitor numbers were only slightly down on 2008 and benefited from more businesses relocating to Bahrain, it said. "For its size, the country has a relatively large tourist industry and in 2009 received 1,897 international tourist nights per 1,000 of the population… Bahrain has historically been a transport hub, thanks to a well-connected international airport and a road bridge that connects the nation to the east coast of Saudi Arabia."" The report said a number of international companies had relocated to Bahrain due to the high cost of doing business in other Gulf countries.

Qatar ranks 2nd in Mena region in competitiveness for tourism

The World Economic Forum recently published its annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report for 2009 within the framework of the Global Competitiveness Network and the Industry Partnership Programme for Aviation, Travel and Tourism. Qatar ranked 37th in the world for competitive global tourism and 2nd in the Middle East and North Africa. The United Arab Emirates ranked 33rd in the world and first in the Middle East and North Africa. The Global Competitiveness Report is an important publication of the World Economic Forum and includes a detailed assessment of the competitive and comparative elements of countries in the world. The first report was issued in 1979 and since then the report has expanded to include more economies. The report for 2008/2009 covers 134 countries.