Paramount Hotels to open new properties across GCC

Paramount Hotels & Resorts, the Dubai-based company with the licensing rights for properties using the Hollywood producer’s brand, is looking to expand with new projects in Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Doha.

Owned by a consortium of investors from the UAE, US, UK and Russia, Paramount Hotels & Resorts was established in Dubai in 2012 and has an exclusive, long-term agreement with Paramount Licensing Inc, the licensing division of Paramount Pictures Corporation, to establish a chain of Paramount-branded hotels resorts and residences.

It already has partnered with developer Damac to build a Paramount-branded hotel and residences twin tower project in Dubai and a hotel in Riyadh.

Thomas van Vliet, CEO of Paramount Hotels and Resorts, said in a statement that the tourism industry in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Muscat was "very promising and bodes further investment opportunities".

Van Vliet also said that hosting the Expo 2020 in Dubai will create more investment opportunities and growth in the tourism sector in Dubai and the UAE in general.

He said the company began to implement plans to expand its portfolio of hotels and resorts in Dubai "to meet the great demand for high-end hotel units".

Paramount recently signed contracts to set up Damac Towers by Paramount Hotels and Resorts in Dubai, which includes a 771 rooms luxury hotel, in addition to three other residential Towers with 1,080 rooms managed by Damac Maison, the hospitality management in Damac Properties.

"It is expected that this property would open by end of 2016," van Vliet said.

He said that work is also underway on another property - the Paramount Hotel Jumeirah Waterfront Dubai - which will be located at the waterfront of Maritime City. The hotel will include 276 rooms.

He said: "We will continue to expand hotels in Dubai due to the tremendous growth of tourism with an average occupancy rates that reached to 87.6 percent last year, which is considered high, making Dubai one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the world."

He predicted that the opening of Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai will double the rates of travel and tourism.

"Millions of visitors will be coming back again and again to Dubai for more shopping, tourism, and participate in various activities, and this is the green light for the development of the tourism sector in Dubai," He added

Regarding new projects overseas, the Paramount boss said that the company is undergoing discussions to manage hotels in all of Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

He added that there are also plans for hotel projects in India, the Maldives, China, Russia, Turkey, the UK, Spain, the United States, the Caribbean and Brazil.

Read Hotelier Middle East's exclusive interview with Thomas van Vliet, CEO of Paramount Hotels and Resorts.