Mandarin Oriental charts aggressive growth plan

Mandarin Oriental, the global luxury hospitality major, has laid out aggressive plans for the region, as the Middle East tourism numbers continue to grow.

“We recently completed the rebranding of Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi. We are doing the rebranding of Mandarin Oriental in Riyadh, and there is the imminent opening of that new resort property in Muscat. And next year, we will add a new property in Downtown Dubai. This will continue as new properties continue to come onstream. So for us, the market continues to become increasingly important and our performance continues to improve,” Geoffrey Webb, vice-president, global sales partners of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market.

Mandarin Oriental is focused at the moment on growth in the resort portfolio. “This is an area where we can differentiate ourselves and seek very strong performance. So I would say it’s more around resort focus in the Middle East. Having said that, there are definitely other opportunities that are being explored,” Webb said.