Tag Archives: Q1

The game changing Wynn Resorts Limited offered an update on the construction progress of its newest resort, Wynn Al Marjan Island, the first integrated resort in the United Arab Emirates. Wynn Al Marjan Island is located 50 minutes from the Dubai International Airport in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. Construction has proceeded as planned with 55% of the structural concrete now complete. The concrete structure is complete up to the 26th floor of the main resort tower, with walls extending to the 29th floor. The construction team is completing one floor per week, working toward a topping off in December 2025. In the last 100 days, the resort tower grew by 44 meters. Wynn Design and Development (WDD), employing more than 90 talented architects, designers, and creative visionaries, is overseeing all facets of the project’s design and development. Wynn Resorts is unique in that it maintains its own full-service design and architectural team. There are currently 9,100 construction team members onsite, and more than 100 concrete trucks in place on the site per day. The resort will offer 1,542 rooms and well-appointed suites. To-date, the tower structure has been completed for 1,121 guest rooms, or 73% of the total. Fit out is underway in approximately 820 rooms – including walls, floors, and ceilings, as well as all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services. The elevator and escalator installation also began this month. Wynn Al Marjan Island will create a new category of luxury in the region through its unique collection of experiences. The twenty-two restaurants, lounges, and bars will range from high-energy social destinations to fine dining. Contributing to the atmosphere, a nightclub featuring the legendary “Only At Wynn” line-up …

UAE-headquartered Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) started its 20th anniversary year on a high note, reporting robust Q1 results across all key performance indicators. Exceeding expectations, total hotel revenues for Q1 2024 jumped to US$649 million, up 17% compared to Q1 2023, while total room nights picked up 20% and the Average Daily Rate (ADR) across its portfolio of 800 hotels nudged up 2%. The GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme continued to grow in popularity, with new enrolments increasing 28% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. At the same time, redemptions of the programme’s rewards currency, DISCOVERY Dollars (D$), rocketed 109% year-on-year, led by members based in Spain, Singapore and China respectively. Further underlining the success, the total cross-brand revenue, driven by members staying in a different brand to where they enrolled, increased 32% to $86.2 million in Q1, with hotel brands benefiting the most including Anantara, Kempinski, Pan Pacific and PARKROYAL. Since launching just over two years ago, D$206 million have been issued to GHA DISCOVERY members, and with D$1 equal to US$1, which has created a stimulus for travel within the alliance, and has helped drive more direct bookings for hotels, which are up 40% on GHA channels over 2023. Nearly two-thirds of those direct bookings are now made on the GHA DISCOVERY app. Q1 2024 also demonstrated some key market and member trends: International stays made by the 26 million GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme members dominate: 68% of hotel room revenues were generated by international stays, led by properties in the Maldives (99% of revenue from international stays), Thailand (94%) and Hong Kong (86%). US and UK members highly influential: 72% …

Expo Centre Sharjah has recorded a 7 per cent increase in the number of visitors coming to its exhibitions and events during the first quarter of 2017, in comparison to the number of visitors that came during the same period in 2016. According to the Expo Centre management, 302,474 people visited the Centre’s events, including 12 specialised exhibitions, in January, February and March. The meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry in the United Arab Emirates currently generates a total of $653 million (AED 2.4b) per year and is expected to continue growing at about 7 per cent per annum until 2020. Overall, the GCC’s MICE market is estimated to be worth some $1.3 billion (AED 4.8b) annually. Located on Al Taawun Street in the centre of Sharjah city, the Expo Centre now has 6 exhibition halls surrounding a central boulevard, with a combined gross exhibition area of 26,000 square metres (279,862 sq. ft.) indoors, plus a further 6,000 square metres (64,583 sq. ft.) of outdoor space. A 200-room Novotel Sharjah Expo is currently under construction adjacent to the expo site. Sharjah is also building a new 370,000 square metre (4 million sq. ft.) exhibition and conference centre in Al Tai district, near the intersection of Emirates Road and Mleiha Road. Expected to open in November, the new centre’s first major event is going to be this year’s edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (1-11 November).