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Dubai / Emirates Business
The total value of the 1,156 hospitality and tourism projects in the GCC region has exceeded $147 billion (AED539 billion) in March 2018, according to BNC Network, the largest project intelligence provider in the Mena region.
Among the 1,156 hospitality projects, 724 projects worth $78 billion (AED 286 billion) are hotel projects while 140 projects worth $50 billion (AED 183 billion) are resort hotels and 292 projects worth $19.5 billion (AED 71.5 billion) are hotel apartments.
As many as 492 hospitality projects worth $39.4 billion are currently in progress — including tender and under-construction stage. As many as 210 hospitality projects worth $26.8 billion (AED 98.35 billion) are in the pipeline — in planning, concept and design stage. However, in terms of value, $80.9 billion (AED 296.9 billion) worth of projects — or 55 percent of the projects — are currently on hold.
“Most of the hotel projects are being constructed in the UAE, especially in Dubai in order to prepare the city to welcome a record number of visitors during the World Expo 2020 mega event,†Avin Gidwani, Chief Executive Officer of BNC Network, says. “Dubai is racing against time to deliver a large number of hotel rooms and service apartments to be able to handle 20 million hotel guests per year and 25 million visitors during the Expo 2020.
“Besides, the opening of the Saudi economy, under the country’s current leadership, one would expect a lot more tourism projects coming up in future, as part of Saudi Vision 2030.â€