The Arabian Hotel Investment Conference has welcomed over 600 delegates to an extensive programme of panel discussions and sessions on variable topics on the hospitality industry.

Jonathan Worsley, chairman of organiser Bench events said: “I would like to thank our patron, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chief executive of Emirates on his ongoing support for AHIC and I would like to thank all of our attendees today, it’s exciting to see this number of industry leaders together under one roof attending this amazing Conference.”

This year’s theme is ‘Hotel Development for Tomorrow’s Traveller’, examining the expectations of future generations of travellers.

Daniel Silke, renowned as South Africa’s leading political analyst, said in his presentation to the AHIC audience that by 2016 88 per cent of the world’s population will live in the emerging marketing and two thirds of the global GDP growth will happen there as we.

He told the attendees that much of the growth witnessed in the Middle East in the hospitality and tourism industry is due to the massive expansions of the Gulf region airline companies.

Silke explained: “By 2025 the world will welcome nearly 1.8 billion visitor per year, a 58 per cent increase from the 1.1 billion international visitor arrivals who crossed boarders in 2014.”

According to JJL 2015 Middle East Hotel Intelligence Reports which was released at AHIC, the Middle East and Africa region continues to witness solid hotel development activity and destination building.

The UAE is expected to retain its status as the region’s main tourist hub with active and differentiated strategies being implemented in other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. 

Hotel assets continue to be favoured by sophisticated investors and require the right level of professional expertise whether internal or third party provided.