Prospects for travel and tourism industry in the Middle East and Africa region as a whole look promising in the first quarter of this year, as evinced in an increase in RevPAR (revenue per available room) - a ratio commonly used to measure financial performance in the hospitality industry. Experts looking at the downturn in the Middle East hotel sector now regard it as an adjustment rather than a market crash. “The forecast for the coming year is good,” one senior hotel executive noted. “Airline arrivals in the region are showing positive growth of around 15 percent, tourist arrivals are showing growth of between five and nine percent, GDP in the region is forecast to grow by 4.5 percent and the signs for 2010 are excellent.” As a result, many hotel operators have drawn up strategic blueprints aimed at increasing their market share, with some announcing plans to build new hotels in the region. The industry's built-up momentum for growth is further reflected in marketing and promotion roadshows organized by various international hotelier groups to maximize every opportunity at further developing renewed business opportunities, brought about by steadily recovering economy. For one, Marriott International - a leading lodging company with more than 3,400 lodging properties in 68 countries and territories - has just concluded last Wednesday its comprehensive two-week sales mission across the GCC countries that brought together its 30 top executives from across the globe to further boost the hotel's customer relations. The mission, involving general managers and corporate executives from various Marriott properties, covered eight cities in the GCC -Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Al-Khobar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Doha - was “aimed at bringing Marriott senior management and hotels closer to high-value customers for a unique networking opportunity, besides providing an update on the various events and promotions,” said Vladimir Dabbah - vice president, Global Sales, Middle East and Africa at Marriott International, during an interview with the Saudi Gazette. “The senior management sales mission is a major step toward further enhancing our long-term strategic customer relationships in the region - the cornerstone of success at Marriott International,” he noted. The mission epitomizes the innovative way of doing business at Marriott, he added, saying that “this unique approach helps maximize the sales efforts and reflects Marriott's proactive strategy to strengthen relationships with key customers.” Explaining that the roadshow is an annual event to demonstrate the hotel's commitment, Dabbah added “it is the perfect opportunity to show our appreciation to our customers and thank them for their support while discussing mutually beneficial prospects on a one-to-one basis.” The roadshow “is a time well spent with the customers … to show that we listen to them and understand their needs,” he further said. At the end of the day, he asserts, it is the ultimate satisfaction of the customers that matter most. Marriott's philosophy is very simple, Dabbah said: “We take care of our staff, our staff take care of our customers, our customers come back.” Moreover, he said Marriott plans to open 30 new hotels in the Middle East and Africa region by 2014. The first is JW Marriott in Tripoli, Libya in the fourth quarter of 2010, followed by three hotels in Doha, Qatar in 2011. Another one in Saudi Arabia, he added, to support the three existing Marriott brands in the Kingdom. He noted that the industry in the Kingdom has witnessed a 10 percent improvement in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2009. One industry research forecast that tourist arrivals to Saudi Arabia would grow by 5 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 12.91 million in 2010, and by an average of 6.5 percent y-o-y until 2014 - after remaining constant in 2009 at just over 12 million. The number of Saudis traveling abroad would increase to 10.23 million by 2014, it added. Jeddah remained the most stable market due to its strength in religious tourism and, in general, was not affected by the global downturn, while domestic demand in Saudi Arabia remained constant. Against this backdrop, “it is important for us to go extra miles,” said Saad Al-Ghamdi, Marriott Jeddah director of sales added. Commenting on the tight industry competition, he said emphatically “price is not a solution to get business, rather it is the best service.” He expressed optimism about the hotel's growth this year, saying that Marriott's “personalized services”- ranging from frequent international traveler accommodation to event-planning & management along with its ancillary services such as personnel transport would make the difference.
