Carrier Emirates Plans Skyscraping Luxury Dubai Hotel
Dubai-owned airline Emirates earlier this month announced plans to construct the world's fifth-tallest hotel in the city. The airline plans to open the proposed five-star, $218 million luxury hotel, which will include 560 rooms and 112 suites, in 2008.
At 1,150 feet tall, the 70-story property will include a 25,000-sq.-ft. health club, spa, shopping establishments and 15 restaurants. The hotel's glass and aluminum exterior would add to its unique architecture.
Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said the carrier's investment in the hotel was meant to capitalize on what he called the rapidly growing profile of Dubai as a tourist destination.
"Last year, Dubai hosted 5.4 million visitors, an increase of almost 9 percent over the year before," said Sheikh Ahmed in a statement. "Dubai's infrastructure must be prepared for this huge expansion in tourist arrivals, and the Emirates' new hotel is our contribution to the city's efforts to meet the forecast demand for more hotel rooms."
More than 5.4 million guests checked into Dubai's 276 hotels and 95 hotel apartments in 2004, an increase of nearly 450,000 from 2003 levels. The length of the average traveler's stay in the past year increased more than 12 percent to 2.8 days, the carrier said, and the number of room nights sold during 2004 increased more than 22 percent.
"Dubai today is not only the leading hub of the Middle East region, it is also fast becoming a truly international business and leisure center," Sheikh Ahmed said. "It has been voted as the world's best conference venue, and the 670-plus rooms of the new Emirates hotel will help to support Dubai's stature as a major financial center."
The proposed hotel is not Emirates' first foray into the hotel business. The airline owns, manages and operates the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, a conservation-based resort set in a 140-sq.-mile nature reserve and the 218-room Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, situated on a stretch of the private Al Aqah Beach, in the emirate of Fujairah.