The Arabian Gulf is set to enjoy growth rates hoteliers in other parts of the world will only be able to dream about, said a leading industry watcher. With around $90 billion in tourism-related developments currently being built, “throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the massive development potential of the travel and tourism industry continues to be recognized with record levels of investment in supporting infrastructure,” said Maggie Moore, exhibition director of The Hotel Show 2008, the premier supplies exhibition to the region's hospitality sector, taking place at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre on June 8-10, 2008. “We know the Middle East is a fast developing market but survey after survey is revealing the region continuing to grow on a grand scale, unmatched elsewhere and bucking negative economic trends in other parts of the world,” she said. The database of ProLeads, which monitors construction across the Arabian Gulf, identifies 185 individual projects worth $90 billion in hotels, resorts, sports facilities, malls, marinas, theme parks and related leisure and tourism facilities currently under construction or fully committed. Moore cited a recent Hotel Benchmark Survey by consultants Deloitte showing the Middle East hotel industry as one of the fastest growing regions in the world with revenues per available room growing 17 percent in 2007, exceeding both Asia Pacific and Europe, with a promising outlook for the years to come. The Hotel Show and its associated Seven Star Conference provide a future perspective on key trends and drivers shaping the travel and tourism sector in a region where the industry's share of investment in relation to gross domestic product has risen from 8.5 percent in 2000 to a forecast 11 percent in 2008. The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also sees an optimistic outlook for tourism in the Middle East. “UNWTO identifies the Middle East as the tourism success story of the decade with the region emerging as a strong destination and visitor numbers climbing much faster than the world total,” said Moore. “Regional confidence remains high for 2008, despite economic problems elsewhere.” In addition, the World Travel and Tourism Council forecasts that the Middle East to be the only region to remain on course for 5 percent growth in travel and tourism this year. This is in spite of the concerns about the impact of deteriorating economic conditions in North America, Africa and Europe. The Hotel Show will showcase the latest products, services and technologies for the hospitality industry. Organized by dmg world media Dubai, the Hotel Show is one of the most important dates in the international industry calendar and visitors include regional owner-operators, decision makers from international five-star hotel chains, architects and interior designers. In excess of 16,500 square meters of exhibition space has been reserved for 2008, to accommodate surging demand from both international and regional exhibitors and is already heading toward a sell-out. Meanwhile, the head of GCC Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Dr. Essam Fakhro said data on Gulf tourism showed that GCC states will spend about $380 billion to privatize tourism projects until 2018. He also said Gulf tourists spent about $27 billion abroad annually. Fakhro said the tourism forum held in Jeddah recently had concluded that the contribution of Gulf tourism to local incomes would increase. This should enable GCC states to play an active role in balancing the Gulf economy by expanding the productive infrastructure and diversifying it through creating new jobs at different levels, he said. He said tourism in the GCC had got a boost in the past five years and become a strong contributor to the national incomes, increasing investment and creating job opportunities. Tourism contributed 30 percent to the local income and created about one million jobs. __
