Dubai group plans to run 40 luxury hotels

Dubai's state-owned firm Jumeirah, which boasts the world's only seven-star hotel, announced Tuesday an ambition plan to own or manage 40 luxurious hotels at home and abroad within the next five years.

"We want to run 40 hotels nationally and internationally" within five years, Jumeirah chief executive officer Gerald Lawless told a press conference during which the firm said it would run 14 hotels at home and 25 others abroad.

"We want to develop a global super-brand ... to create the world's most luxurious hotel group," said the head of the hotels firm which owns one of Dubai's main landmarks, the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab luxury hotel.

"We want to be a player on the world stage," said Jumeirah chief sales and marketing officer Bill Walshe.

Jumeirah, created in 1997, currently owns six luxury hotels in Dubai and two in London.

Lawless said planned to run hotels in Sydney, New York, Beijing, Shanghai as well as in South Africa, the Maldives and Mauritius. Jumeirah is part of the state holding firm Dubai Holding which runs mega projects aimed at turning the affluent Gulf emirate into a business and leisure hub.

Source: AFP