Ritz-Carlton will double its presence in the Middle East

Chain of luxury hotels Ritz-Carlton plans to double its presence in the Middle East in the next 3 years. By 2014 the number of Ritz-Carlton hotels in the region should grow up to 24. Such a figure was announced on Tuesday by one of the top managers of Ritz-Carlton, Bob Harazmi.

As noted by the portal, now representatives of Ritz-Carlton are negotiating with a number of Middle East developers, which may result in soon opening of the network hotels in Abu Dhabi, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

As expected, by the end of 2011, the hotel chain will open its third hotel in the UAE - The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi. The hotel will be presented on the newest tourist attraction of the UAE capital - Saadiyyat Island. Thus, Ritz-Carlton will be the third network of luxury hotels, which will present here its services. Plans to open on Saadiyyat their hotels until the end of 2011 were also voiced by Hyatt and St.Regis.

Muscat resort in Oman. Here, according to Harazmi, Ritz-Carlton plans to open two or three hotels. Currently the company is negotiating with interested investors.

In Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Ritz-Carlton plans to open its first hotel in 2011. According to the company's strategy, the first hotel will be the starting point for expansion, which after coverage of the major cities of the country will enter the secondary market.

It is worth noting that one of the largest consultancies of the world Jones Lang LaSalle reported about difficult situation in the UAE hotels, which resulted in low occupancy rate. However, Ritz-Carlton plans refuse a number of skeptical forecasts about stagnation of the hotel industry in the UAE.