More foreign buyers are eyeing hotel properties in Dubai for investment as returns remain high despite the global crisis, but sellers are scarce and deals are hampered by the difficulty to get loans, industry experts said.

"If you compare 5-star properties in Paris and Dubai, both well-located, your return on investment is much better in Dubai," said Amine Hamdani, manager and surveyor at global real estate service company CB Richard Ellis.

While investors' net income for a property in France will be around 15% today, Dubai properties can generate around 35%, Hamdani told Reuters.

International hotel investment could fall as much as 58.3% to US $10bn (AED 37bn) in 2009 as the global financial crisis spreads to the leisure and tourism industry, according to hotel consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

Hamdani said more international buyers were looking at investments in existing properties in Dubai, but few owners were selling. High net-worth individuals comprise the majority of buyers who look for high returns on investments, while institutional investors aim for a nine to eleven percent return, he said.

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Alex Kyriakidis - global managing director of tourism, hospitality and Leisure at consultancy Deloitte & Touche - said the main challenge for buyers remains the lack of bank lending.

"There are owners who want to realise value or attract partners in their hotel projects and there are interested buyers in the Dubai hospitality industry, but the problem which will continue for at least the next six to nine months is the lack of credit," said Kyriakidis.

"With the absence of credit coming forward from the banking system it's impossible to make these deals work," he said, adding that they were few sellers currently as "no one is looking to put their assets on the block".

Dubai hotels saw a five percent increase in the number of guests during the first half of 2009, official data showed this week, after they cut prices and launched promotions.