Dubai Hotel Park: Construction is delayed

Jumeirah hotel chain, which manages a number of luxury hotels in Dubai, including the famous hotel Burj Al Arab, announced that the planed transition of new Bawadi hotels in Dubailand under the control of the company is delayed. In addition, the implementation of another construction project - Aqua Duny theme park in Dubailand, which Jumeirah Company also planned to take under its management - was suspended at the initiative of the developer. The cost of the latter project was estimated to 2 billion dollars.

Project Bawadi was initially supposed to be one of the hugest development project in UAE hotel industry. Within the framework of the project Emaar Company intended to build a line of 51 luxury hotels on the coast of Dubai. The total length of the "hotel's paradise" was supposed to be over 10 kilometers. Key count of Bawadi hotels was planned in the amount of 60 thousand rooms.

“Anyways, according to representatives of the Jumeirah Group, the project of Dubailand construction will continue, but its realization will take a longer period of time,” - The National newspaper reports.

Reduction of tourist flow in connection with the global economic crisis has fundamentally shaken the position of the hotel industry in the UAE. The effect of the general downturn in the tourist industry was even amplified for hotels in Dubai due to the large number of new hotels, which were put into service in the last two years. As a result, Dubai hotels have been forced to reduce costs in order to keep the level of occupancy of hotel rooms. Either way, the overall performance remains disappointing: the percentage of occupancy in the hotels in Dubai in August 2009 was 68% versus 80% for the same period last year.

Regarding Dubailand park, then as the name implies, it was planned as the Arabic equivalent of Disneyland. According to the authors of the project, Dubailand, after the completion of the construction, would receive up to two and a half million tourists. A golf course, developed by the world famous golf star Tiger Woods, as well as Universal Studios theme park was included as a part of the park.

Initially the park was part of an ambitious Dubai plan for increasing the number of tourists in the emirate up to 15 million by 2015. Six years after the beginning of the project, it became obvious that the planned numbers are subject to adjustment.

Anyways, Jumeirah hopes to change the situation for the better. Despite a difficult year, the company in collaboration with the Government of Dubai and Emirates Airline managed to keep the occupancy of hotels at 90%. Jumeirah Group plans to open 60 new hotels around the world by the end of 2012.

At the same time, the portal city-of-hotels.com offers booking of already constructed hotels in Dubai.