Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi, president and CEO, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has massive expansion plans.
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Middle East and Africa has signed four new hotels in Madinah.
The properties include two Millennium hotels as well as a Studio M and Millennium Executive Apartments, the boutique budget and serviced apartment brands, respectively.
The properties will be part of Knowledge Economic City, a US $7 billion development in Saudi Arabia's second holy city.
Slated to open by 2020, the four hotels will range in the size from 600 to 1,000 rooms per property. Knowledge Economic City will also feature an academy and campus, museum, wellness centre, retail, commercial offices, residential housing and a mosque housing 10,000 worshippers.
The Group’s presence in Madina will address the demand for quality internationally branded and long-stay options in the city, especially during the religious periods of Hajj and Umrah. In addition, the business and conference segments are expect to encounter growth in the coming years with the completion of Knowledge Economic City.
Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi, president and CEO, Millennium & Copthorne EMEA, said: “The agreement is another significant achievement supporting our rapid expansion in Saudi Arabia, a key strategic focus country for our Group. The hospitality industry in the Holy City of Madina is witnessing remarkable growth due to a rise in religious tourism as well as the thriving economy.
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"There is currently an under-supply of branded hotels with international standards and we are confident that our expansion plans will help address this,”
The move follows the signing of four hotels in Madina and Riyadh earlier this year and is part of company’s strategy to open over 20 hotels in the Kingdom within the next five years and 100 hotels across the Middle East by 2020.
“We are proud and honoured to be part of such an important development such as Knowledge Economic City, which is expected to drive economic growth and employment to the city. As a global operator with a deep understanding of the region we are confident that we can support this major infrastructural project by providing the highest levels of hospitality to this exciting development,” Alzaabi said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Marwan Fahmie, acting CEO, Knowledge Economic City Company, said: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership with Millennium & Copthorne. Knowledge Economic City is set to serve Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategy and cement Madinah’s role as an Islamic cultural centre, by working closely alongside our consultants Colliers International and an international leader in the hospitality industry such as Millennium & Copthorne.”
In the Middle East and Africa, the group operates over 20 hotels and has quite a few more in the pipeline set to open in 2016. The group has plans to operate 50 properties by 2017.
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