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Future Energy Summit to Boost Hotel Occupancy in Abu Dhabi

The Aloft Hotel owned by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, or ADNEC, and linked to the WFES venue, is completely booked during the days of the event.

“We are delighted with the synergy that Aloft and ADNEC have developed during these couple of months; the fact that we have an occupancy rate of 100 per cent yet again, re-enforces the acceptance the hotel has had since we our soft-launch in October,”an ADNEC release said, quoting Rene Camilleri, Director of Sales and Marketing of Aloft Abu Dhabi. Other hotels including the Shangri-La are also witnessing increased occupancy levels around the January summit.

“During the World Future Energy Summit we are expecting occupancy levels over 90 per cent with rates that are similar to those in 2009.” said Levent Tekun, Director of Sales and Marketing, at the Shangri-La, in Abu Dhabi. “We are pleased at the strong growth witnessed by major events such as the World Future Energy Summit. Events such as this are instrumental in reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s position as a global hub for exhibitions and events,” said Sanjay Tanna, Business Development and Investment Director of the ADNEC. Increasing availability of hotel rooms is expected to bring down the hotel rents in Abu Dhabi to ‘rational levels’ from their earlier exorbitant levels this year.

“We now have some 17,000 hotel rooms in 111 hotels or hotels apartments throughout the emirate — this is a much improved scenario since this time last year when it was genuinely difficult to secure a room in Abu Dhabi. Over the past 12 months we have seen 4,500 rooms in 11 new hotels join our inventory with 2,250 of them in seven properties on Yas Island.

In 2010 we anticipate a further 5,000 rooms coming on line,” Nasser Al Reyami, ADTA’s Director Tourism Standards at the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) had disclosed recently.

“Accommodation inventory shifts in the market has created a better room supply and demand balance in the emirate and this has led to a more competitive rate environment,” Al Reyami 
had said.

On the other side, the hospitality industry sources are confident that they would get comfortable revenue even with increased availability of hotel rooms in Abu Dhabi as the emirate is fast emerging as a major events destination.

The occupancy level of hotels rooms was about 78 per cent in Abu Dhabi last year and this might come down only slightly to 75 per cent even with the proposed addition of rooms this year, according to an industry source. Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions or MICE is expected to be a major driver for growth in the hospitality industry in Abu Dhabi.

The capital city was named as the Gulf region’s third top MICE destination in early 2009, and ADNEC was set to account for the lion’s share of growth in the MICE sector.

ADNEC had set a target of welcoming up to 1.85 million visitors in 2009, and it is not yet clear whether this target was achieved.

“Exhibitors are very conscious of the return-on-investment on their events and it is therefore crucial that any exhibition development provides appropriate accommodation options. Aloft Abu Dhabi provides an affordable option without sacrificing style and design and we are very pleased with the acceptance the hotel has had with the event organisers and exhibitors,” Sanjay Tanna said.

· ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com