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Dubai: Swiss-based hotel chain Movenpick said it is keen for tie-ups with Arab investors to develop properties in the high-growth markets of Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia, China and India.
"A lot of Arab funds are interested in Asia and we want to partner with them for project developments," said Toufic Tamim, Movenpick's vice-president of sales and marketing in the Middle East.
Secure opportunities
"We want to encourage this trend. We think Asia offers secure investment opportunities for Arab capital," he said.
Movenpick Hotels and Resorts, owned one-third by Saudi Arabia's Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, plans to open 24 new hotels by 2011.
Its Asia presence will be boosted this year by two hotels in Vietnam. It has signed up for a resort development in Thailand's tourist hot spot Pattaya.
In the Gulf, 14 of new hotels will be in the UAE and three in Saudi Arabia.
Tamim said the company will increase its focus on Oman, where it will open a 400-room resort in Salalah in 2010.
"There is a shortage of rooms in Oman and we do not have a hotel there yet," he said.
The company will open three hotels in Saudi Arabia and one in Dubai this year. At present Movenpick has 19 operating hotels in the region, but just one in the UAE.
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