Calendar year 2009 is closing and the hospitality industry is looking back at gloomy 2009 balance sheets, although the UAE has managed to maintain one of the world’s highest revenue per available room (RevPar) figures. Ulrich Eckhardt, Middle East and Africa President for Kempinski, said it bluntly – “The economic downturn has been bad for the hospitality industry as a whole, and anyone saying otherwise is living in ‘LaLa land’.” He said RevPar for Kempinski Mall of the Emirates dropped over 12 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, and gross operating profit for Ajman property fell 40 percent.
Early this year all previous projections about the hospitality industry became irrelevant as the true nature of the global economic recession became apparent. Several big names in the industry faced financial difficulties. In February, Trump Enterprises Resorts filed bankruptcy. Dubai Property was forced to announce an indefinite delay in The Palm Trump International Hotel and Tower Well.
