HE Sheikh Mubarak AM Al Sabah is the chairman of Kuwait-based Action Hotels, which operates 14 properties.
A lack of infrastructure, promotion and motivation by the government are the main reasons why Kuwait’s tourism sector has not seen the level of investment and growth witnessed in other Gulf countries such as the UAE, one of the country’s top tourism executives has said.
“There is limited tourism in Kuwait,” said HE Sheikh Mubarak AM Al Sabah, chairman of Kuwait-based hotelier Action Hotels.
“It is a very friendly country and it is very different from the other states in the GCC but it has not moved towards developing [its tourism sector].”
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He added that though Kuwait was “well placed” to take advantage of the three large growing markets of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the tourism sector in Kuwait had simply not been given enough support and was not backed up with an adequate infrastructure.
Sheikh Mubarak said that he believes the lack of incentives is a political problem, and when asked if it was down to a lack of motivation by the government to develop the tourism sector he answered that “unfortunately that is the case.”
“We are a very liberal country and no different from any other GCC state but we are not promoted. The lack of infrastructure is not there to attract tourists to be a hub,” he said.
In May, Dubai-based research company Proleads reported there are currently more than 470 active hotel projects in the Gulf. However, only 27, or 5.7%, of these were planned in Kuwait, compared to 258 in the UAE, 83 in Saudi Arabia and 35 in Bahrain.
Action Hotels specialises in the midscale hotel market and has a portfolio of 14 hotels in the Gulf and Australia. It is currently on track to open 2600 hotel rooms in the region by 2012.
Sheikh Mubarak was speaking in an interview with Hotelier’s sister magazine, Arabian Business.
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