Hong Kong // The developer Omniyat has agreed a deal with Langham Hospitality Group, a Hong Kong-based hotel operator, to open a new Langham Place hotel in the Business Bay area of Dubai.
The 6,325-square-metre site will house a 167-room hotel and 271 serviced apartments – 438 units in all.
It will also have four food and beverage outlets, including an all-day restaurant and a rooftop bar. The building will be completed in 2018. The total project cost is Dh1 billion, according to Omniyat.
Speaking at a signing ceremony at the Langham Hotel in Hong Kong, Mahdi Amjad, Omniyat’s executive chairman and chief executive, said Dubai had “evolved dramatically” with tourism numbers doubling over the past decade to more than 10 million, and a further doubling expected by 2020.
He said Langham Place “adds another prestigious brand” to its portfolio, adding that it was currently developing properties with four hotels and more than 1,500 rooms.
Lo Ka Shui, the executive chairman of Langham Hospitality Group, said he was confident about his company’s ability to fill the property, despite the growing pipeline of Dubai hotels.
He said the 100 million Chinese who made overseas trips last year were “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of potential visitors, with more than 2.3 billion tourism visits made within China last year.
Mr Lo said Langham’s experience in Hong Kong showed that it could cater well to the market, as its hotel drew about 50 per cent of its weekend visitors from mainland China, compared to about 30 per cent at rival hotels in the territory.
Omniyat has a portfolio of properties worth about US$4.4bn, and Mr Amjad said that had increased in size by about 25 per cent annually over the past two to three years.
He expects to add properties worth $1bn to its portfolio by the end of this year.
“We will continue to grow as long as the region is growing and the demand is there,” he said.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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