THE Middle East’s hotel building boom isn’t showing any signs of slowing down as international groups look to gain a bigger foothold in a region seen as ripe for development.
The largest concentration of new international hotels will be in Egypt, where consumer confidence is returning after the dramatic fall in business in the early part of last year following the massacre of tourists in Luxor in November 1997.
Hilton International is among those moving into the booming Red Sea area with the opening of the Hilton Ain El Sokhna in June, providing a resort complex of 40 chalets, with 175 rooms to be added at the end of 2000.
In Sharm El Sheikh, construction of the 260-room Hilton Sharm Water Falls and the 360-room Hilton Sharm Dreams is underway with openings scheduled for next year.
At the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai next month, Hilton will reveal details of the Hilton Coral Beach due to open in the emerging Red Sea resort of Marsa Alam in 2001, along with Forte Hotels’ Le Meridien Marsa Alam.
The booming Sinai Peninsula area is also the focus for Spanish hotel group Sol Melia, which is building the 312-room Melia Sharm, due at the end of this year.
The group’s Paradisus Sharm and Elite Sharm, offering 350 and 282 rooms respectively, plus extensive water sports, aims to become operational early in 2000.
Further intense competition in the Red Sea hot spot, with openings expected at the end of 1999, will come from the 431-room Hyatt Regency Sharm El Sheikh; the 203-room Swissotel Sharm El Sheikh; and the Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh, comprising 141 rooms, 112 chalets and 34 villas.
The Red Sea is also top of Choice International’s Middle East expansion agenda, with a 540-room hotel scheduled to open in Hurghada in December, properties in Safaga and Sharm in 2001, and Marsa Alam in 2002.
Meanwhile, Forte will unveil the 423 rooms, 153 bungalows and 208 chalets of Le Meridien Makadi Bay in September, which will be followed by a Meridien in Ras Sudr, and two in Ain El Sokhna, all in 2001.
Elsewhere in Egypt, construction of the 273-room Four Seasons Cairo at First Residence and 384-room Four Seasons Cairo at Nile Plaza is expected to be completed by the end of 1999, and a 180-room Choice International hotel is being built in Luxor.
The group is also among those targeting Taba, a beach and mountain resort near Eilat. Here, it has a Quality Hotel under construction, which will be pre-empted by the Hyatt Regency Taba, with 426 rooms beside a secluded beach, due late this year.
Also underway are the Radisson SAS Paradise Resort Taba, comprising 320 rooms, 80 villas and 124 timeshare units, scheduled for the first quarter of 2000; and the 250-room Le Meridien Taba; and upmarket 400-room Le Royal Meridien Taba, both due in 2001.