Al Habtoor in Dh750m Palm venture

05/04/2006 | By Shakir Husain, Gulf News Staff Reporter

Dubai: The UAE's Al Habtoor Group is investing Dh750 million in a new hotel on the Palm Jumeirah Island and has plans for a hospitality project in the upcoming Business Bay district.

"It will be a tropical-themed boutique resort resembling the ambience of Thai and Balinese islands," Al Habtoor Hospitality chief executive Rahim Abu Omar said.

The 47,468-square-metre resort complex will have 250 deluxe rooms, 38 executive suites, two honeymoon suites and two presidential suites, he said while announcing the plan during Arabian Travel Market.

A total of 32 hotels are planned on the Palm Jumeirah and 20 of them are top international brands, a Nakheel spokesman said.

"Al Habtoor is a well-known group and their resort's theme will add to the variety of styles and architecture on the island," he said.

Al Habtoor is also spending Dh100 million on a new residential block within its existing Metropolitan Hotel Dubai complex.

The expansion includes 14 two-bedroom suites, 42 single bedroom suites and three studio suites.

According to Dubai officials, the city will need more than 80,000 hotel rooms to provide accommodation to 15 million tourists that the government hopes to attract in 2010.

Al Habtoor owns five-star and four-star hotel properties in Dubai, Beirut and London. It has also built a full-fledged theme park called Habtoorland in Lebanon.

The group has also acquired land in Business Bay, a cluster of commercial buildings, to build new facilities.

"We will have office blocks and a hospitality project within the Habtoor complex in Business Bay," Abu Omar said, adding the details of the project were being worked out.