Ritz-Carlton increases focus on Saudi Arabia

The Ritz- Carlton hotels in the Middle East have announced plans to amplify their presence in Saudi-Arabia, aiming to increase their customer base in the country by at least 15% in 2010.

In order to implement this strategy, Ritz-Carlton has appointed Mohamed Halawani —an experienced sales director in the Middle East —as assistant director of sales with sole responsibility for the Saudi Arabian market.

Ritz Carlton are vice president Middle East, Pascal Duchauffour, said: “With such an aggressive objective to achieve, the general managers have agreed to engage an experienced sales person such as Mohamed Halawani to be exclusively dedicated to this country on behalf of their hotels’ revenue targets.”

The Kingdom represents the largest GCC market for The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Sharm El Sheikh and the company has appointed Halawani to reach out to Saudi-based leisure and corporate travellers.

“We see tremendously high potential in the Saudi Arabia market for the coming years and our goal is to increase our customer base by at least 15 per cent in 2010,” added Duchauffour.

Prior to his appointment, Halawani spent more than a decade working at the Hilton and Conrad hotels in Egypt, where he was responsible for all aspects of corporate, MICE and government segments. He oversaw regional sales teams and was involved in the planning and implementation of key marketing strategies for the 19 hotels for those two brands.

Halawani said: “I am delighted to be representing this group of luxury hotels in the Saudi market. My long term ambition is two-fold: I have to accomplish my revenue goals for the years ahead, and at the same time, I need to raise the awareness of The Ritz-Carlton brand among the top travel partners and companies in the Kingdom ahead of our competition.”