According to DTCM, the hotels are mainly of the five-star category. The total room inventory of the new hotels will be 17,278 rooms. In particular, 10 luxury hotels will be located on the famous artificial island Palm Jumeirah. Department experts note that due to the crisis, demand for economy-class hotels has grown in the emirate, so several hotels of this category are being built in Dubai.
It was previously reported that after 2009, at least 15 million tourists will visit Dubai annually. The high demand for hotels explains the fact that the emirate's hotel real estate market has suffered from the consequences of the financial crisis not as much as other market segments.
At the same time, the Dubai housing market is going through hard times. Before the global financial crisis, the market had been growing for five years: housing prices quadrupled. However, from September 2008 to the end of January 2009, housing prices in Dubai fell by 25%. Currently, implementation of most large residential projects started by developers in the UAE has been suspended. Many potential buyers and investors have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
Bloomberg had previously reported that the country's largest construction companies are experiencing difficulties, in particular due to unpaid bills by the UAE government. Construction is also significantly slowed down by the new price of expanded clay, cement, metal, and other building materials, the procurement of which was planned long before the crisis. Thus, the debt to Arabtec Holding, the largest development company in Dubai and the main executor of government construction orders, amounted to $1.36 billion at the end of last year. The state also has debts to Emaar Properties, which is the developer of the Burj Dubai complex, which should become the tallest building on the planet.
According to Lenta.ru, construction companies in the UAE are the first candidates for state financial assistance in the amount of $10 billion.