Millennium Hotels plans to double its Middle East portfolio to 100 hotels by 2025 and expand into the African market within the next two years as demand remains strong despite pandemic-driven headwinds.
"Our vision is to hit 100 [hotels] across the region, where the UAE remains the main market for us," Haitham Assem, Millennium Hotels' head of marketing for the Middle East and Africa, told The National.
Arabian Travel Market latest
“We see growth, we see potential and we see the curve is getting into [a] U-shape. It is picking up quite solidly … and we are fairly positive about the [UAE] market.”
The company currently operates 50 hotels across the Middle East and Africa, including the UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The hotel operator plans to establish operations in the North African market by 2023, he said, but declined to give further details.
The company has a pipeline of 11 new properties, which will open for business by 2022, Mr Assem said. Nine of these will be in the UAE, where the company currently operates 22 properties.
“Nine [hotels] is the confirmed pipeline [for the UAE] but we are in discussions to at least double this number," he said.
Millennium Hotels currently operates about 17,000 hotel rooms across the region and the addition of 11 new properties will add an extra 3,000 keys, he said.
Despite the severe disruption to the travel and tourism sector, the UAE has fared relatively better than some of its regional and international peers.
The Emirates recorded the world's second-highest hotel occupancy rate due to government efforts to contain the spread of the virus and encourage domestic tourism. The country hosted 14.8 million guests last year, with its hotels achieving an occupancy rate of 54.7 per cent, behind only China, according to World Tourism Organisation and Emirates Tourism Council data released in April. The global occupancy rate stood at just 37 per cent.
Millennium Hotels achieved an occupancy rate of more than 70 per cent across its properties in the region last year, Mr Assem said. It expects to beat that this year as Dubai hosts Expo 2020 and Saudi Arabia’s tourism market opens up.
“In 2020, we were fortunate that we didn’t have to shut down hotels, which was a big plus for us … we had solid business domestically,” he said.
The company, which relies largely on Europe and GCC as source markets for guests, is looking to focus on central Asian countries to compensate for declines in travellers from Europe. The reopening of Saudi Arabia's borders after 14 months of travel restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 will also boost business, he said.
“It will have a big positive impact here,” Mr Assem said. “It’s a very big deal for us. We predict that Saudi [tourists] will come here first because Europe is not in the best shape.”
The opening of the country's borders will also boost business for the company’s hotels in Saudi Arabia. It currently operates three properties in Madinah, four in Makkah and one in Tabuk.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Lexus LX700h specs
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Key facilities
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
THE BIO
Mr Al Qassimi is 37 and lives in Dubai
He is a keen drummer and loves gardening
His favourite way to unwind is spending time with his two children and cooking
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The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
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Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
