Canada's Fairmont Hotels and Resorts said it is planning to add 14 hotels in the Middle East by 2014, focusing on Saudi Arabia, as it looks to tap into regional growth. “The Middle East is our primary focus for development,” said Kent Cooper, vice president for regional hotel sales, told reporters on Tuesday. Fairmont's regional growth is driven by Middle East markets such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and increasingly Saudi Arabia, as well as growing numbers of Gulf travelers that stay at its properties in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company has four new hotels planned for the UAE, at varying stages of development, with two in Abu Dhabi. It is also considering projects in Cairo and Morocco. The Middle East, despite being impacted by the global downturn, still shows resilience over the past year with revenue dropping less than other regions, industry figures showed. “Saudi has to be our No.1 market for development at this point,” said Cooper. “It has a large critical mass, huge influx of travelers, the built-in demand drivers, and it helps us support our partnerships with our shareholders.” Saudi Arabia is developing its tourism sector to lower dependence on oil and hosts an estimated 10 million Muslim pilgrims every year. The Kingdom, which sits on more than a fifth of global oil reserves, will see the opening of Fairmont's Makkah Clock Royal Tower this year. “By next year we will have (announced) four or five hotels in Saudi Arabia,” said Mohammed Al-Arkobi, vice president and general manager of the Makkah Clock Royal Tower. The 14 planned hotels will be all under the Fairmont brand. The hotelier - which also has the Raffles and Swissotel brands - is likely to also add hotels in Qatar, the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas, whose economy is booming. On April 5, Fairmont Raffles said it would sell new shares equivalent to 40 percent of its capital to Qatari Diar an affiliate of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund – as part of an $847 million deal to fund the firm's global expansion.
