Rotana to add 1,000 hotel rooms in Dubai by 2020

UAE hotel operator Rotana plans to add 1,000 rooms in Dubai by 2020.

Rotana is ramping up expansion plans for the Middle East, since announcing in February that it was planning nine new hotel projects for Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the next five years.

A spokesperson for Rotana has confirmed a report in The National saying the company expected to add hundreds of rooms specifically from two properties in Dubai by 2020, reports sister publication Arabian Business.

The company also intends to enter Morocco in 2018 and expand its presence in Iran.

In response to STR Global's indication that Dubai hotels were down 3.5% in occupancy to 82.5% year-on-year in 2015, Rotana president and chief executive Omer Kaddouri said: "Occupancy is down only minimally, and the changes in the daily rates are cyclical and is a sign of the market maturing.

“As long as the government supports the hotel sector by reinvesting in tourism offices [overseas] and airlines, the demand will be there.”