04.00pm: Qatar Tourism Authority is looking to alter its corporate: leisure ratio from 70:30 to 60:40 by adding a theme park, an aquapark and a commercial port due to open by 2017. Speaking to Hotelier Middle East, Chairman Issa M. Al-Mohannadi said that he is not concerned about the types of leisure tourists that are attracted to the country either, and says that you cannot control the people that come into Qatar, and you cannot ban 95% just because 5% are badly behaved!
03.45pm: Emaar Hospitality Group is to launch a new hotel brand - Manzil - that celebrates authentic Arabesque design aesthetics and culinary flavours. The first property under the new brand will be Manzil Downtown Dubai (formerly Al Manzil), located opposite Souk Al Bahar.
03.30pm: Finally, Egypt is back on the radar! It’s great to hear Jumeirah president and group CEO Gerald Lawless, Marriott International president MEA Alex Kyriakidis and Trump Hotel Collection VP hotel development and acquisitions IMEA Shafi Syed say that they are looking closely at Egypt for expansion. Kyriakidis said that in particular, there are lots of opportunities for Marriott to do conversions, while Syed said he saw great prospects for development in Cairo.
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03.00pm: Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara has launched a 10-villa complex called Royal Pavilion Villas by Qasr Al Sarab. The new villas add to the resort's existing portfolio of 154 rooms and 42 villas.
02.45pm: Ritz Carlton Bahrain GM Mark Neukomm said that the GCC is the hotel's biggest source market with Saudi Arabia seeing the biggest positive growth. He would like to see a lot more growth from Qatar and the European segment.
02.40pm: During a session on Dubai's 2020 tourism vision, Marriott International chief sales & marketing officer MEA Neal Jones emphasised the need for the industry to look beyond that 2020 target. He also said Marriott was going to start reaching out to the young generation more as they own the wallets for the next 20 years.
02.30pm: Make you sure you visit the Shaza Hotels stand at ATM. We have it on good authority from CEO Simon Coombs that the brand will be making some big announcements this week, even signing a deal at the stand itself. We are sworn to secrecy for now, but will unveil the news as soon as we can!
01:00pm: Elaf Group's Jeddah property, Elaf Galleria, has been delayed. The 371-key property was originally due to open in 2014, but will now open in Q1 of 2015, according to Elaf Hotels Company vice president Ahmed Ali Najjar.
11.20am: Big news from Hilton Worldwide, which is to open the UAE's third Garden Inn, attached to Mall of the Emirates.
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