Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI)-Makkah, the operator of the five-star Makkah Clock Royal Tower, will participate in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai next month, for the third consecutive year, the company said on Sunday. The company, which also operates Fairmont Hotel, Raffles Makkah Palace and Swissôtel Makkah, said ATM is the premier travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. The FRHI-Makkah executive team will meet with key travel industry partners at the four-day event on May 6-9 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center. “With all three of our Makkah properties now fully operational, following the opening of Swissôtel Makkah last Ramadan, we have great expectations from the market and from our presence at Arabian Travel Market. We look forward to capping off another prolific business year for all three of our holy city properties.” said Khaled Yamak, Group Director of Communications & Business Development, FRHI Makkah. “Haj and Umrah tourism receipts were up by 10 percent last year compared to 2011 figures, reaching $16.5 billion. With the Saudi government also investing heavily in infrastructure projects, our strategy has focused on driving additional business by presenting a cohesive identity for three very unique – yet complementary – Makkah properties,” he added. The 1,487-room Swissôtel Makkah —which is currently the largest hotel in the Middle East in terms of number of rooms — opened just before Ramadan last year, and Yamak reports that occupancy levels to date have exceeded initial forecasts with an average of above 80 percent. FHRI Makkah also reports that GCC travelers remained to be the number-one source market for all three properties in 2012 and 2013 year-to-date, with Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia and Malaysia the main feeder markets last year. Yamak said visitors to the FHRI-Makkah stand at ATM will gain firsthand insight into the scope of services offered across the three distinctive properties, which have been designed to meet the increasingly high expectations of today's international travelers and religious pilgrims. “We are incredibly proactive as an operator and understand that our guests are not only looking for high quality services and facilities, but also at the innovations and added-value that we bring to the market,” he said. The FHRI-Makkah hotels represent three renowned international brands – Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel, each of which delivers a distinctive experience — complete with unrivalled views of, and access to, Islam's holiest sites: the Ka'aba and the Masjid Al-Haram. “The all-suite Raffles Makkah Palace, for example, is a residential sanctuary which offers round-the-clock personal butler service. The hotel has its own Islamic library, with over 2,000 Islamic texts and books for visiting scholars and pilgrims,” remarks Yamak. The prestigious Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel, rounds out the group's portfolio as the second tallest building in the world. Perched on top of the tower is the renowned Makkah Clock, the highest point of athan (call to prayer) and prayer room in the world. “Besides being an engineering marvel, you can imagine that the hotel's views are truly breathtaking. Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel, combines the very best of Eastern hospitality philosophies and Fairmont worldwide signature service, including the Fairmont Gold floors which provide an exclusive hotel within a hotel experience, and the newly opened Royal Floors — the height of exclusive top-notch hospitality in the holy city,” said Yamak. According to Dr Sahal Bin Abdullah Al-Sabban, Undersecretary for Transport and Projects at the Holy Sites for the Ministry of Haj, the Kingdom is forecasting further increases in the number of pilgrims expected to visit the country during the eight-month Umrah season. A total of 5.5 million pilgrims visited Saudi Arabia last year, much more than the 4.1 million in 2011. — SG
