COVID-19 live blog roundup: hotel projects status in the Middle East

Not all hotel projects in the Middle East region stand still. (Picture: Rowen Smith / Unsplash)

We summarise updates shared on the TOPHOTELNEWS Covid19 live blog to draw a picture of how the Middle East’s hotel projects industry is negotiating the ongoing crisis.

The international hospitality industry has been sent into a tailspin with the sudden onslaught of the coronavirus crisis. From lockdowns to travel bans and border closures, hotels, bars and restaurants are having to navigate more uncertain waters than ever before.

TOPHOTELPROJECTS has been tracking in real time the developments within the industry as it reacts to the continuing crisis, and we recap some of the recent activity that has been happening in the Middle East in response to the pandemic.

The good

The UAE has announced a support package to help retail and hospitality tenants weather the coronavirus storm. A real estate developer in Abu Dhabi has introduced a three month rent waiver for all of the retailers and hospitality businesses in its portfolio. “These are exceptionally difficult times. We want them to feel secure and let them know that we are there for them and that we are in this together,” said International Capital Trading CEO Hamad Al Shamsi.

One of the biggest international hospitality events on the annual calendar has been postponed until 2021/2022. The Expo Dubai was one of the most hotly anticipated trade shows, and fortunately has not been cancelled, but rescheduled to now take place between October 2021 and March 2022.

The 250-room Centro Corniche Al Khobar has opened, and a new Kempinski hotel is currently under construction in Saudi Arabia.

The postponed and the stalled

The brakes have been put on the construction of a new Mama Shelter property in Dubai. Works were moving slowly anyway, but the opening that was scheduled to take place at the end of this year may have to be pushed back even further because of the impact of Covid19.

The Copthorne Makkah Al Naseem in Saudi Arabia is closed due to coronavirus, as is the 454-room DAMAC Arjaan by Rotana Riyadh.

Market insight

The profitability of the MENA region was expected to rise this year, after a disappointing few years in 2018/19, but the rapid spread of coronavirus has thwarted the region’s plans for success in 2020. Covid19 hasn’t helped an already ailing oil industry in the Middle East, both of which have contributed to a plummeting hospitality market in the region, with very low occupancy rates recorded in March.

An STR webinar says the next few weeks will be pivotal for the region in terms of its projections for the coming months, and indeed the rest of the year and recovery post-Covid19.