DUBAI
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, a luxury hospitality company, is in advanced negotiations for four new properties in the GCC, according to the group’s president for hotel operations.
The hotel operator has also been forced to re-evaluate the mix of guests at its newest North African hotel, set to open in Tunisia later this year, following terrorist attacks there in 2015.
“There are 10 or 12 deals that we are working on,” said Simon Casson, President of Hotel Operations, EMEA, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, adding: “it’s important to note that out of those 10 or 12 probably eight will happen.”
Casson said that of those eight, four would be in the GCC.
Four Seasons, which is part-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, the investment firm founded by billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, will open a hotel in Kuwait later this Summer.
The property will be the group’s seventh in the GCC, and 20th overall in the Middle East and Africa.
Describing the Middle East’s travel community as “resilient and robust,” Casson said that a string of terrorist attacks in 2015 had not slowed the company’s expansion to Tunisia down.
However, it did prompt a re-estimation of the mix of guests that the Four Seasons expected to visit their new property in Tunisia. “When we planned the hotel, it was obviously with tourists in mind,” he said.
“Before, we probably expected 40 per cent leisure and 60 per cent business. Now, that’s probably 80 per cent business and 20 per cent leisure,” Casson added.
Tunisia was hit by two major terrorist attacks in 2015 — in June, the popular tourist resort of Port El Kantaoui was attacked by a gunman; three months before that, the capital’s Bardo National Museum suffered a similar mass-shooting, leaving 24 dead. Its porous border with Libya, where there is instability and an absence of security, has left Tunisia in an ongoing state of emergency.
“Our decision to enter the Tunisian market predates the tragic attacks,” he said. “We have been working with the Mabrouk family for over four years now on the property.”
The president said that the new hotel, expected to open sometime in late Q3 2017, would serve the city of Tunis, a destination “that has been on travellers’ lists for a long time.”
Up until the attacks, Tunisia was one of the most popular tdestinations in Africa, particularly for European holidaymakers, due to its proximity, weather, and history.
He added that the company believes in Tunis as an important capital city in North Africa, with “history showing that it will continue to be an important business hub, and tourist centre as well.”
