Rotana Says to Open 1st Hotel in Iran Soon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The head of Rotana hotels group, based in Abu Dhabi, said it plans to open its first hotel in Iran in less than a year.
“We have signed hotels in Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan. We expect to open our first hotel in Mashhad, a shrine city, by the first quarter of next year,” Rotana's President and CEO Omer Kaddouri said, Arabian Business reported on Sunday.
The hotel management company will have 104 operating hotels by 2020, with 55 currently operational and 49 under development, he added.
“Years ago, we identified a target to open 100 hotels by 2020. We will open 17 hotels between now and the end of 2018, valued at $1bn, which will take the number of existing hotels to 72. And with another 32 hotels opening over the next two years, we will not only achieve our target, but surpass it.”
Iran plans to allow tens of luxury hotels to be constructed across the country in an attempt to attract more visitors to the Islamic country.
With a large number of attractive natural and historical sites, Iran is one of the most touristic countries in the world.
Visitor numbers have soared since Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached a nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015 and started implementing it in January 2016.
