UAE: Hilton To Open Fam­ily Resort South Of Yas Island In 2019

Hilton expects to open a fam­ily resort in a new development south of Yas Island in 2019.

The 641-room, five-star Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island Resort would be a part of the Dh12 billion Yas Bay development.

When completed, Yas Bay will be home to two hotels, a recreational pier and Yas Arena, an entertainment venue with an 18,000 capacity operated by Flash Entertainment.

The creation of a world-class family resort at the heart of Yas Bay, our iconic waterfront development, will provide visitors with a five-star opportunity to extend their leisure and business stays," said B R Kiran, the chief portfolio officer of developer Miral.

Yas Bay is a 3-kilometre waterfront strip spread over 14 million square feet that Miral announced last month.

Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island Resort will feature a multi-purpose conference centre and seven food and beverage outlets.

This represents a landmark deal for Hilton and puts us at the forefront of the transformational journey Yas Island is undertaking to become one of the world’s top leisure destinations, said Carlos Khneisser, the vice president for development in the Middle East and North Africa region for Hilton.

Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island Resort is among the 20 hotels under development in the UAE that are scheduled to come on stream by the end of 2022.

The operator has 22 hotels in the UAE, but only two of them are in Abu Dhabi.

The Yas Bay development is expected to be home to 15,000 new residents, 14,000 visitors every day and 10,000 working professionals at the new 3.2 million sq ft twofour54 media zone.

The Abu Dhabi tourism agency has been promoting the destination aggressively at home and abroad over the past year.

Its hotels recorded 1.6 million guests during the first four months to the end of April, a 7 per cent growth compared with the same period last year, according to Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).

During April, the guest numbers represented a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent. China was the largest overseas source market during the month with 131,253 hotel guests.

The surge in tourist arrivals from China was attributed to the visa-on-arrival rules for Chinese citizens to the UAE last year.

China was followed by India with 104,436 visitors and the UK with 86,529 guests.