DXB Entertainments, the group behind Dubai Parks & Resorts, intends to make its home-grown hotel brand, Lapita, the global leader in entertainment hotel chains.
While average room rates have been dropping in the emirate as the supply of mid-market brands increases, Dubai attracted 14.9 million tourist arrivals in 2016, an increase of 4.9 per cent on a year earlier.
The emirate’s occupancy rate has also been rising at four and five-star hotels, improving from 78 per cent in 2015 to 79.3 per cent last year, according to figures from STR Global.
A Lapita Hotel, managed as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, was launched in January this year, set in the middle of the Dubai Parks & Resorts theme park complex. The hotel has 504 rooms, including 60 suites and three villas.
“Strategically we want to establish ourselves locally before expanding regionally and then globally,” said Raed Kajoor Al Nuaimi, the chief executive of DXB Entertainments. He said the company aimed to agree management contracts with partners to aid the expansion.
“This, of course, means starting here in Dubai, at the Dubai Parks & Resorts destination, while seeking further opportunities. In the last few weeks of March, the Lapita Hotel Dubai was close to full occupancy as the destination experienced some of its highest attendance numbers on the back of regional school holidays.”
Dubai’s increase of 4.9 per cent in visitor numbers is below the 7 to 8 per cent average growth targeted to reach 20 million visitors by 2020, but the emirate is still delivering attractions. Six Flags Dubai, the destination’s next theme park, is expected to open in late 2019. “The expansion of the Lapita Hotel brand highlights the opportunity for quality family resorts linked to theme parks and entertainment centres, many of which are being planned across the region,” said Rashid Aboobacker, a director at TRI Consulting.
“There is certainly an opportunity to leverage their development and operational experience from the Jebel Ali property, which can be applied in other upcoming destinations in the region which will benefit both the brand and the destination.”
ascott@thenational.ae
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