According to the Travel and Tourism Council’s 2015 report on Kuwait, leisure spending generated 81.2% of direct travel and tourism GDP compared with 18.8% for business travel spend in 2014. And while business travel spend will continue to decline, leisure travel spend is forecasted to continue to rise. But hotels need to start adapting their offering with this in mind, explains Sona.
“Kuwait and in particular Kuwait City is in need of more branded serviced apartment product and lifestyle hotels. The population is young and very brand and trend conscious but the market is offering either five-star hotels or typical corporate hotels that are not appealing to this captive audience,” explains Sona.
While Hilton already has a presence in Kuwait with its luxury Hilton Kuwait Resort, the opening of the mid-scale outlets suggests it is aware of the needs of the new era of clientele.
“With just over one-third of leisure travellers from the region choosing budget hotels, and Asian expats increasingly opting for low cost accommodation — according to the Q3 2015 YouGov Travel Oracle insight report — Hilton is now primed to match the expectations of travellers seeking smart luxury options while also providing more affordable alternatives as we continue to diversify our offering in Kuwait,” says Jagersbacher.
Impacting the hospitality landscape further is the recent shake-up of the country. Since 2010, Kuwait’s government has been implementing a strategic development plan which aims to improve infrastructure, create a sustainable and diversified economy and revamp Kuwait’s international status, in the hope to attract more visitors. Improving the country’s international status involves a plan to execute 13 projects including the Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Islamic Centre scheduled for a 2020 completion. Last month the government revealed a $15.75bn cash injection over the years 2017-18 towards the development project.
And though business visitor spend is reported to be waning, business travellers do still make up the vast proportion of hotel guests in Kuwait. According to Colliers, 60% of the guests are characterised by corporate business. Hakan Petek, general manager at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa believes new projects, such as the airport and those being created under the country’s development plan will only further boost business travel and stay. Petek says despite the bulk of spend coming from leisure guests — which saw a rise in occupancy, ADR and RevPar year-on-year — there was a spike in the number of corporate guests in the prior year thanks to a number of projects signed in the oil and gas segment.
“We expect this trend to continue through to next year as they are long-term projects,” asserts Petek.
With both the leisure and business traveller continuing to play a significant role in the country’s tourism business, the real question is what guests are looking for from their hotel-stay and how hotels can best deliver on this.
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