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Chelsea Confident of Weathering Economic Crisis

“Currently, we have three hotels under construction. Business Bay is a five-star 367 room hotel. It is 18 months from completion and will be managed by Cown Plaza, Karim Kassam, executive director of Chelsea Group of Hotels, said. The group has a 300-room four-star hotel coming up behind the Mall of Emirates. This will be opened before the end of the year, Karim said.

Works on a 427 room four-star hotel is also under way behind Burjuman Mall. The project is expected to be completed in 20 months. This too will be a Chelsea-managed property.

“We entered into the agreements on these projects at the end of 2007. We only look at areas with long-term potential and so even in today’s market, we feel comfortable. The returns may take a little longer to materialise but we are very confident of the potential of Dubai for business and leisure tourism.” He said Chelsea will be looking for more opportunities in the next few months.“Even in a crisis time like this, there are opportunities.”

“I don’t see any serious challenges as all our investments are in fundamentally strong areas. Corporate travel is still required although at lesser budgets and in less frequency. The new Dubai is focusing on the leisure market. This is one of the markets that will be least affected by the current crisis,” he said.

· aneela@khaleejtimes.com