Earlier this year, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAK TDA) announced a new tourism target of one million visitors by 2019. According to RAK TDA CEO Haitham Mattar, this is in fact the first of two tourism targets for the emirate, with a more ambitious 2.9 million visitors aimed for by 2025.
One immediate effect of this has been the rebranding of RAK TDA, unveiled earlier this year at ATM, as well as a rebranding of the destination itself. This includes Ras Al Khaimah’s recently released destination video, which attempts to push the emirate’s culture and heritage offerings, as well as wildlife and adventure activities.
“The misconception about Ras Al Khaimah was always about us being a destination that offered great resorts and beaches only,” Mattar told Hotelier Middle East.
He added: “We have found that for most travellers from Europe (and other parts of the world), while the first motive for travel is beach, sun and sand, the second is connecting with the country’s culture, heritage and history, and there’s also people looking for adventure.”
RAK TDA’s attempts to promote the emirate’s non-beach-based charms include the construction of a five-star glamping experience at Jebel Jais, the first in the region located within mountains, as opposed to in the desert. Also coming up this year in the Jebel Jais area is the construction of a via ferrata (or “iron path”) mountain climbing trail currently expected to open in September. By the end of the year, there will also be the launch of three zip lines, the longest of which is 300 metres, which will make it the longest zipline in the world, Mattar said.
Diversifying the activities offered is one part of RAK TDA’s plans to hit its visitor targets. Another is the increased pipeline of hotels.
“For us to reach those sort of numbers, we need more rooms,” Mattar explained. “Today Ras Al Khaimah has about 5,000 hotel rooms, over 42 hotels. In order for us to reach the first hurdle, which is the first target of one million visitors, we need to have at least 8,000 hotel rooms in the destination. In order to reach the 2.9 million visitor target, we need to have 20,000 rooms in the destination,” he added.
There are currently 3,600 hotel rooms in the pipeline to open between now and 2019. Properties that are signed and either under design or under construction include Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, Anantara Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Golden Tulip, Hilton Garden Inn, Citymax and Four Points by Sheraton.
The Mövenpick Resort Ras Al Khaimah is currently expected to open in 2020, slightly shy of RAK TDA’s first visitor target.
Asked why the Swiss brand decided to make its first foray into the Northern Emirates, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts vice president sales and marketing Toufic Tamim told Hotelier that the occupancy growth in the emirate made this a “better time than ever to enter the market”.
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