By Issac John  www.kaleejtimes.com
Dubai: With hardly five years for Dubai to spruce up for the World Expo 2020, when the city is expected to receive 20 million visitors, hotel rooms in the emirate are projected to witness an exponential growth.
JLL, a leading real estate investment and advisory firm, said Dubai is set to see a massive increase of 28,000 new hotel rooms by 2018. This is a further surge of 7,000 rooms from JLL’s recent prediction of 21,000 new keys by 2017.
Already one of the world’s top holiday destinations, Dubai is currently gearing up for the World Expo with the government’s Tourism Vision forecasting 20 million visitors a year by the time of the event in 2020.
Statistics at the end of 2014 show that Dubai had 413 graded hotel establishments with a total of 65,000 rooms, up 3,500 compared to 2013. Supply has grown at five per cent per annum over the last five years. Total room supply is expected to grow 12.5 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2018. Preliminary 2014 estimates indicate nearly 12 million tourist arrivals in the emirate, registering an eight per cent growth over 2013. More info
