JEDDAH – Accor Middle East, one of the leading hotel operators in the region, will stage its annual Middle East Roadshow on Feb. 16-20, 2013. The roadshow provides an opportunity to network with customers and share the progress made over the past year. It offers a forum for discussing new opportunities within the travel industry and updating regional travel industry leaders on Accor's brands, properties, products and offers. Research showed that the region is experiencing a period of strong growth with current estimates of more than $3 trillion being pumped directly into leisure and tourism and indirectly into supporting infrastructure. By 2020, there will be airport capacity for an extra 300 million passengers, more than 200 new hotels and 100,000 additional rooms. Visitor numbers are expected to reach 150 million. Christophe Landais, Managing Director Accor Middle East, said: “These statistics support Accor's growth strategy in the Middle East where we have 24 hotels in the pipeline over the next two years. We started 2013 by signing a new Novotel hotel in Jeddah and are now gearing up to launch our 11th annual Middle East roadshow.” With representatives from Austria, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, US, Thailand and Middle East, the roadshow will visit Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait. It will involve a series of industry workshops and business meetings with major corporate and leisure agencies. Cocktail dinners in the four key markets will provide an opportunity for social networking. "The Middle East is a vital outbound market for us," added Philippe Seguin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Accor Middle East. "During our tour of the four key cities, Accor delegates, who represent more than 30 hotels from 13 countries around the world, will have the chance to discuss their 2013 products and offers with more than 500 leading customers.” "In the Accor Middle East calendar, the roadshow is a milestone event because we want to strengthen our partnerships with travel companies across the region. As our trusted partners, they have helped us grow our business and it is a great opportunity to meet them again in person and share with them our success over the past year." Accor Middle East currently operates 54 hotels representing 13,546 rooms in the region and has 24 new hotels in the pipeline representing 6,019 rooms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Qatar. — SG
