The Middle East has long evoked images of luxury travel — be it as a locale in Western dreams of Oriental palaces straight out of One Thousand And One Nights or in the form of super-rich oil sheikhs summering on the Cote d’Azur.
Today it is Dubai — one of the metropoles of the 21st century — that most people think of when they hear “luxury in the Middle East”, with luxury cars at every corner, luxury real estate projects going up on land and the specially-created off-shore islands, and the most expensive watches complementing the most expensive apparel.
With Dubai and the other Gulf states boasting a staggering number of 5-star hotels — in the coming years to reach more than 100 — standing out this sea of luxury hotels and resorts requires that extra-special touch. Not surprisingly the world’s first 7-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, stands in Dubai.
1000s more millionaires
With the current windfall from the rising oil price, whose benefits are most obvious in the region’s oil-producing countries but also trickle down to the non-producers, luxury travel is becoming affordable to more people. A recently released report by Merrill Lynch showed that the number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs, with assets of more than $1 million), increased by over 15% last year in the middle east, now amounting to around 400,000, holding amongst themselves $1.7 trillion. And the regional tourism industry is doing its best to capture as many luxury travelers as possible.
While, in general, tourists’ tastes and requirements have developed, luxury travelers are on a whole different, elevated level. As Johnny Modawar of Lebanon’s Wild Discovery put it, “Luxury travelers have their own requirements. They want a one-to-one relationship; they don’t want to be treated as a group. When we talk about luxury tourism, we always talk about individuals. These people have time, they have money, and they want to engulf themselves in the destinations to enjoy the facilities, the service — which has to be impeccable from the start, from the relationship with the travel agent to the time they return home. The personal needs are often confidential because they want privacy.”
Luxury tourism providers, thus, have to ensure that everything is of the highest standard, from the bathroom fixtures to the service personnel. In the words of Roland Obermeier, Vice President Sales and Marketing for Area Middle East and Africa at Kempinski, “luxury is an experience you can’t get elsewhere based on a unique product, service etc. One good example used is a Fabergé Egg, limited and each one is unique.”
Global chains and local entrepreneurs are creating a host of new additions to the already existing spread of luxury hotels and resorts, some of which — in historic tourist destinations like the Levant, Egypt or Morocco — look back at a century of what these days is called ‘bespoke travel’.
Kempinski, which already operates five hotels in the MENA region — the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, Hotel Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, Kempinski Hotel Ajman, Kempinski Hotel Amman and Kempinski Hotel Ishtar at the Dead Sea — plans to open more properties in Egypt, the Levant and the Gulf.
Definition of luxury hotels
For Kempinski, “Luxury is translated into space, facilities and convenience and that is why we have set rigid minimum standards of luxury, which we look for in any property before we decide to manage it.”
Another luxury brand, Ritz-Carlton, is planning to “double its portfolio [in the Middle East] within the next two years due to the strong demand,” according to Vivienne Gan, Regional Director of Public Relations, Middle East of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C., which currently has hotels and resorts in Bahrain, Dubai, Doha and Sharm El Sheikh. The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre is scheduled to open in mid-2009 and in 2011 The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will welcome their first guests. Gan continued “In the meantime, we are looking at our second hotel in Bahrain and Egypt, and we have a project in Kuwait that is under construction. Potentially, there could be a third hotel in Dubai, and we are also looking at Jeddah for a potential project close to Madinah and Mecca.”
For Ritz-Carlton, too, luxury travel comes down to impeccable service, or in Gan’s words “Our motto is: ‘we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen’.”
One of the latest prominent additions to the luxury destination market is the Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay in Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. The sultanate is now emerging as a sought-after destination for discerning travelers. The Chedi Muscat has, of course, long been known as one of the best hotels in the region, but it is the northern tip of Oman that is developing as a boutique destination — for residents of the UAE but also luxury travelers from farther abroad.
The sultanate follows a trend that has been emerging in regional luxury tourism: positioning oneself as provider of something distinctive. Just having excellent service and state-of-the-art facilities no longer suffices. Luxury travelers want value-added to their holidays. Oman is aiming for a culture destination, showcasing its rich heritage, but in an exquisite 5-star setting, where the traveler can, after a day out, relax at the spa.
Jordan also features culture — Petra, Jerash, Madaba etc — but as the Arab shore on the Dead Sea the greatest focus is on Spa Tourism, of which the Kempinski Ishtar is currently the prime example. In Morocco, the magical Marrakesh caters for all levels, but the luxury traveler will seek out some of the region’s best boutique hotels, like the Riad el-Fenn, owned by the sister of Richard Branson, of Virgin Group fame. Syria is still a ways off on the path to a luxury destination, but the recent opening of a few boutique hotels in Damascus is an indicator of (good) things to come.
Lebanon had, in the “golden era” of the 1950s and 60s been a prime destination for the region’s luxury travelers, as well as the pan-Mediterranean jet-set. After the Civil War it regained some of its luster and now sports two of the region’s outstanding boutique hotels — the Albergo and the Vendome. But the political impasse of the last two years has deterred travelers, luxury or otherwise, and the Cedar Republic’s tourist managers have become cautious about hoping for a new upturn.
The infrastructure, however, is already present and even decades of war and political turmoil could not tarnish Lebanon’s reputation as the region’s leader in services. As Johnny Modawar pointed out, “Lebanon has a great location and a perfect summer season. Visitors love to come because we have an open-minded culture, a culture of servicing the client.” In addition, the small country packs a highly varied offering, from beaches to mountains, nightlife to archeological sites and to top things off, one of the region’s finest cuisines.
Speaking the same tongue
But the key is the personnel. One thing that attracts luxury travelers from the Middle East to vacation in their own region is that there is no language barrier. As Modawar explained, “Throughout the Middle East, people speak Arabic, and when you’re welcomed by someone who speaks your language that facilitates the relationship.”
Lebanon’s tourism companies, hotels and resorts are banking on their image, in addition to anticipating the newest trends. Currently, that trend is ‘relaxation’. Beach destinations, which for the longest time could rely on vast expanses of sand to attract clients, now upgrade to spa and long-stay. A perfect example is Eddé Sands Beach Resort and Wellness in Byblos, which now features a spa with a VIP pool and a small hotel, turning itself into a “complete experience,” in the words of Sophie Edde, Marketing Executive at Edde Sands. While not comparing her resort with large hotels, she pointed out that the key to Edde Sand’s success is its distinction from others by providing value-added and always create something new, saying “I don’t want to have a normal beach resort. I want visitors to come for a variety of reasons — for the beach, for the hotel, for the spa, even for the restaurant.”
The rise in oil prices and regional inflation do not particularly affect luxury travelers as “people who have money, who can afford expensive holidays, always stick to their plans,” according to Johnny Modawar. On the ground, however, it can be different, as Sophie Eddé pointed out that “the political crisis in Lebanon has affected everything and we have slowed down projects, but we still plan to go ahead with new projects, it’s just a question of when and how quickly.”
But overall, the skies for luxury traveling are as blue as those over the Mediterranean, the Gulf, and the Red Sea. As old destinations are re-inventing themselves and new destinations are appearing on the scene, competition is lively and luxury travelers have ever less reason to leave the region.
