Guests have been celebrating the opening of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2011 during a lavish ceremony at the newly opened Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel in Dubai. The two-day conference at the Madinat Jumeirah is underway today with a line-up of the brightest hospitality minds in the world.

Picutred: Edmund O’Sullivan, AHIC Co-organiser & Chairman of MEED Events, opens the 2011 events

AHIC 2011, organised by Bench Events and MEED, could not have come at a better time for the tourism industry in the region, with insiders beginning to celebrate a return to growth after two torrid years.

Edmund O’Sullivan, chairman of MEED Events commented: “In spite of the political uncertainty which has marked much of the MENA region in 2011, there is still much cause for optimism in the Arab hotel industry.

“New hotels continue to come on line in the market to much demand and the quality and innovation of each continues to rise.”

Jonathan Worsley, chairman of Bench Events, with World Travel Awards founder Graham Cooke

AHIC will this year welcome 500 industry professionals from 42 countries.

Last year the industry leading event saw a significant increase in attendance from the hotel investment sector.

The event offers a high quality and enormous quantity of debates and panel sessions held by the speakers and participants, and it is a great opportunity that facilitates networking and deal-making prospects for hotel professionals.

Gerald Lawless, chairman of Jumeirah Group, with Abdul Rahman Morshed, chief executive of National Hotels Company at AHIC 2011

Jonathan Worsley, chairman of Bench Events said, in closing: “This year the event has a special focus for owners and investors as we will be looking at the recent events that took place in the past few months in the region, and the impact that they have had on the industry, and how we can move forward.”