Dubai plans to open 20,000 more hotel rooms by the end of 2016 with the focus shifting to mid-market properties, a senior official has said.
Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said the emirate was also on target to achieve 150,000 keys by 2020 as part of its plan to become the world’s most popular city destination.
“We currently have 51 applications for mid-level hotels; this is an important component that will help the emirate achieve this target,” said Kazim during a speech presented at the Destination Dubai 2020 conference.
The ambitious target is anchored on attracting 25 million tourists in the next five years, according to Kazim, who said it is achievable despite lingering fears of plummeting oil prices and a strong dollar.
“The emirate is on track to achieve all the targets for the 2020 vision beyond the Expo,” said Kazim.
“Dubai will be looking at different types of tourists in the period leading up to and beyond 2020. There will be more cultural and business tourists, and as such the city will need to offer more mid-range hotels,” he added.
Kazim said that the government has started to incentivise investors that are looking to develop three and four star hotels.
The expected influx of tourists will also require increased capacity of Dubai’s airports and in his speech to the conference Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, DSVP Commercial Operations GCC, Iran, Central Asia for Emirates Airline, said that the airline is on track to meet its 70 million passenger target by 2020.
Al Mualla said the number of tourists travelling to Dubai had tripled in the past decade.
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