BAHRAIN: Increasing Hotel Capacity By 4,000 Rooms

Bahrain will receive 15 new hotels, valued at $10 billion, by 2020, according to a statement from the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) on Wednesday.

Brands like The One&Only, Fairmont, The Address, and Wyndham are set to mark their entry in to the Gulf country over the course of the next three years.

These hotels will add to Bahrain’s existing portfolio of over 190 hotels and resorts. This includes 18 five star hotels and 48 four star hotels. In total, the country’s hotels currently offer a capacity of 16,500 rooms.

In a separate statement, Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the EDB, said the new hotels were expected “to increase hotel capacity by around 4,000 rooms in the country by 2020 and fill gaps in the market.”

“These developments will both help to meet rising demand and attract new visitors to the kingdom. Bahrain showed strong growth in tourist numbers in 2016, witnessing a 6 per cent increase in the number of tourist arrivals,” he added.

Bahrain received 12.2 million people in 2016, and in 2015, the kingdom’s tourism sector accounted for 6 per cent of the total GDP, contributing revenues of $1.9 billion to its economy.

The country’s tourism market is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8 per cent.

Following Marriott International’s announcement that they would be opening 15 new luxury properties across the region, the company’s president for the Middle East and Africa said on Wednesday that despite some oversupply concerns, he sees huge opportunity in the market.

“Whilst some of the Middle Eastern markets appear to be oversupplied, the fact of the matter is the ratio of branded rooms to population is exceptionally small,” Alex Kyriakidis, President and Managing Director of Marriott International, Middle East & Africa, said.

Kyriakidis said that Marriott would add 60,000 rooms across the region between now and 2022.

The majority of these, he said, would be located in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, Kyriakidis said “there is a pent-up demand for travel”, adding that “you have religious tourism, which has an exponential growth trajectory with the Muslim population growing around the world, in addition to domestic travel.”

“The kingdom is a huge focus for us, particularly the holy cities,” he said.

Marriott currently operates 11 hotels across the kingdom, which has a population of 31 million people, including two Ritz-Carlton properties.

In the UAE, Kyriakidis sees Marriott International diversifying its business away from the “upper upscale” brands such as Marriott, Le Meridien, Sheraton, and Westin.

“We see lots of opportunity in the select segment of the market, to compliment the upper upscale and luxury, and make Dubai more affordable, particularly for families to visit,” he said.

The select segment is a term Marriott International uses to describe its midscale offering, including brands such as Courtyard Hotels, Four Points, and Aloft Hotels.

Kyriakidis added that the intention was to “diversify our product within the UAE.”

For Egypt, the senior official noted that travel to the country had been “marred by safety and security concerns.”

Nevertheless, he said that the company is seeing “a significant uptake in travel to the country now by virtue of the fact that its currency is not dollar pegged.”

In November 2016, Egypt devalued its currency by 48 per cent in an attempt to end its economic crisis, which Kyriakidis said had “made their country considerably more affordable for tourism” and in turn stimulated “demand from around the Arab world.”

Turning his eye to the UAE’s capital, he conceded that “we’re in a tough time right now because of the oil price,” but said that Abu Dhabi is “beginning to rethink its strategy about how to generate economic activity, and clearly leisure and tourism is at the heart of that.”

“We are thinking strategically about the capital,” Kyriakidis added.

Even as the hotels market in the Middle East and globally is seeing a strong shift from luxury to mid-range, the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has not stopped expanding in the luxury segment of the market, although it is still strongly focused on the midscale side of the business.

The hotels group, largely known by its Holiday Inn, InterContinental and Crowne Plaza brands, is looking to bring its boutique lifestyle luxury brand, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, to the region.

This time it would be a unique offering in the luxury end of the market, says Pascal Gauvin, IHG’s Chief Operating Officer for India, Middle East and Africa.

“It’s an American brand. We are now starting to export it outside of America. We would love to start with Dubai in this region,” he told Gulf News in an interview.

IHG bought the brand in 2014, and started to take the Kimpton brand outside of the US only in January this year.

It has signed for a property each in Amsterdam, which is about to open sometime this year, and Paris, Gauvin said.

“We only want to do the big capitals for this band. And of course, for this region, we want to start with most probably Dubai and then take it to all the other big cities in the region.”

Asked if Dubai would see a signing for Kimpton sometime this year, Gauvin said: “I can’t tell you when we are going to sign one in Dubai. It depends on the investors’ appetite.”

He was quick to add that IHG has already in discussions with investors to bring the brand to this market.

“We are talking to some investors already. The ones that we have started seeing are really keen on exploring possibility with the brand. People who are interested are the ones who already know the brand from the US, and they are very glad that we have started exporting the brand,” Gauvin said.

Contrary to belief by some that the luxury end of the segment might be reaching a saturation point in a market such as Dubai and the overall region, Gauvin said he was optimistic about the growth in this segment.

“Luxury will always be luxury, because by DNA, this is where this region started and so we will remain quite strong in the luxury [segment] … but maybe a different luxury than what we see today. It’s more boutique lifestyle luxury more than the large brand luxury,” he said.

IHG has another lifestyle brand, Hotel Indigo, which caters to the upper scale of the market, and reflects the neighbourhood around, as Gauvin puts it.

“But Kimpton is the other way — it’s more inward thinking. So we want to cocoon them [the guests] inside the hotel. Restaurants here will play a very important part,” he said.

Hotel Indigo, meanwhile, is under construction in two markets in the region — in Dubai and Riyadh. “IHG is planning to bring new brands to this region,” Gauvin said.

IHG has 79 existing hotels in the Middle East with 26 in the pipeline. “In three to five years, they will all be open. And that’s 47 per cent growth,” Gauvin said.

“There is a diversification taking place in the market. And that’s why we are bringing in a lot of midscale brands such as the Holiday Inn, to Dubai in particular, but in the region in general,” Gauvin said. “We were an emerging market for many years, and it’s maturing [now], especially the UAE, specifically Dubai. So it’s really time to focus on our midscale brands.”

He added that IHG would continue to expand its InterContinental and Crowne Plaza brands.

A surge in Airbnb-driven short-term bookings eating into Dubai’s hotel industry margins? Not likely as there is enough space to accommodate all of the demand — and not necessarily competing — from the various guest categories, according to findings by the consultancy PwC.

“It’s the Generation Z that is so taken up with a “shared economy”,” said Martin Berlin, Middle East Partner and Global Deals Real Estate Leader at PwC. “This is the audience that will find a stay with an Airbnb app most appealing; but this is effectively creating a user base in cities where they didn’t exist before or wasn’t fully developed.”

PwC has issued its Megatrends report on the hospitality sector, where it defines the user groups the hospitality industry should be planning for — the “silver generation”, the millennials and Generation Z. And each group has their marked preferences on where they want to make a room booking and how they want to make it.

Until now, the millennials and the Genz Z born after 2000 were clubbed together under the impression that their tastes bore close resemblances and with little differentiation. But the PwC report prefers to see some subtle differences between them.

“Although there is limited knowledge about the travel preferences of the Gen Z tourist, it is predicted that due to higher access to information and higher education levels, this travel segment will bring forth a new age of innovation within the travel and tourism industry,” the report states. While Gen Z would prefer non-traditional hotel concepts such as Airbnb, the millennials — more so those further up on their career paths — are “partial to smaller boutique brands and shared economy structures such as Airbnb”.

But the region’s hotel industry will still have a fight when it comes to retaining their hold on the business traveller. There are options opening up via short to longer term staying options offered by non-hotels for a corporate guest.

The PwC report reckons as much. “The hotel industry’s prized possession — the business traveller — is soon to be targeted by Airbnb,” it states. “Hoteliers need to take strong proactive action to retain business travellers and attract customers across all ages and demographics.

“This would require adapting their services to become more consumer-centric in order to create unique guest experiences. Hoteliers also need to invest in creating strong identities for smaller lifestyle chains rather than larger cookie-cutter brands. It is important for the hotel industry to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to locking horns with this disrupter.”

Dubai’s developers are changing tack, with a horses-for-courses policy rather than keep committing to hotels either too heavy with luxury trappings or a bare-bones budget option. Damac has now introduced investment options on hotel apartments overlooking its Trump golf course, with prices starting from Dh395,000.

Meraas, the Dubai Government owned master-developer introduced four concepts in one go as part of its drive into developing a hospitality presence.

According to Berlin, “Dubai will still be a top attraction for the “silver” tourist, and with their preference for longer term stay options. The laws on short-stay homes have already been passed in Dubai and it’s just a matter of time before other Gulf cities come with their own versions to govern this category. It will only mean further growth opportunities.”

Even on how marketing campaigns should approach them, Gen Z are overtly dependent on connectivity while millennials want to know more — and are not immune to influence by — social media.

For Middle East hoteliers, there are lessons on marketing tactics they will need to imbibe. “The shift from the intermediaries to the influencers is one of the largest marketing shifts the travel and tourism industry has foreseen,” the report notes.

“The Gen Z and the millennial tourists are no longer swayed by travel brochures but are most likely to make decisions based on social media influence. Therefore, it is imperative for players in the travel and tourism industry to increase the importance of social media platforms in their marketing strategies.”

SEYCHELLES: Explore Seychelles Cuisine

A good grilled fish is always appreciated by the Seychellois

The market in Seychelles reveals the quality and quantity of ingredients needed for a creative Creole dish. Fish most people never have seen and tens of chilli varieties set the stage.

Maria Soubana has an exotic cave restaurant called Maria's Rock Café in Baie Lazare, south on Seychelles' main island Mahé. Mostly, she serves fresh fish and meat to be fried on the table on hot lava stones. But today, Maria has agreed to show me the secrets of traditional Seychellois cuisine.

Everything is based on the freshest of ingredients, directly from the garden, the abundantly colourful market in Victoria or nature herself. A few of the more than ten chilli types found at the Victoria market are also seen in Maria's kitchen. The pimente kabrí, from her mother's garden, would be perfect for the upcoming octopus curry in coconut meal, Maria discloses.

Cooking the traditional Seychellois way is time-consuming, revealing that housewives in earlier days had long working days, needed to use what nature and their gardens gave them and had little to help them with. It is a cuisine born out of French immigrant's traditions, the archipelago's isolation making it dependent on local produce and out of poverty.

Only the making of coconut milk, which barely flavours dishes, is hard work and time consuming, with a special device to scrape out the coco mass from the nut; the watering of this mass and its final hand squeezing and massaging to produce the "milk".

"Freshly made coconut milk is simply much tastier than the canned you buy in the shop," Maria holds, adding that you will not find any young people preparing their meals in such an elaborate way today. Indeed, Seychellois youth were too much into French fries and other junk food, forgetting traditional cooking, she complains.

But when the ground work of preparing ingredients is done - including the coconut milk and the previous beating and long cooking of the octopus to make it tender - the traditional octopus curry is quickly cooked, leaving many options for short-cuts if wanting to copy the dish.

Maria heats up the oven and pours oil in the hot pan. Chopped onion, garlic and eggplant are fried some five minutes. Then, the pre-cooked octopus is added, together with large quantities of Seychellois masala - which includes entire cinnamon leaves - and false saffron (turmeric) powder. As this mix seems to get burned at the bottom of the pan, the coco milk is softly added. The dish is seasoned with salt and coarsely chopped chilli before it is left to cook another 10-15 minutes under constant stirring.

You can find the detailed recipe for Maria's traditional octopus curry here.

Besides the octopus, a typical Creole chutney is appropriate, providing for a lighter and fresher taste to go with the heavy octopus curry.

Maria quickly makes an indigenous papaya chutney, using papayas that are still hard. The papayas are grated and an onion cut into fine slices, to be given a 30 minutes water bath to soften. She adds fresh lemon before the "salad" is put into a hot pan or wok with oil for a few minutes, under further addition of lemon juice. The chutney now only needs getting cold and some freshly chopped chilli before being served.

Traditionally, boiled breadfruit is served along with the octopus curry. Breadfruit could easily be exchanged with potatoes, if you want to copy the dish.

Maria reveals that, as with many other traditional dishes, breadfruit is no longer "in" among Seychellois youth. Typically, locals now prefer imported rice along with dishes such as octopus curry. In up-market hotel kitchens, which usually serve a modern "fusion" of Creole and French cuisine, one unfortunately does not find the breadfruit at all.

"Fusion" is a modern name for something old. Indeed, the traditional Seychellois cuisine is already a fusion between ancient French cooking techniques, tropical ingredients and strong influences from India and mainland Africa.

And this "traditional fusion" served by Maria is a delight - maybe not for the eye but for the mouth and stomach. It is a cascade of open and hidden flavours and could best be described in the way quality wines are described. And as is common with traditional cuisine, there is always more in the pot and it is difficult to stop eating before you get too stuffed.

Fast food the Seychellois way
While Maria complains about the degenerated cooking habits of Seychellois youngsters, one will be surprised to find that traditional cooking has found its way into local fast food.

Indeed, dishes similar to Maria's octopus curry are found in a modern wrapping out in the streets in Seychelles, for example as an octopus kebab or stews. On Mahé's popular Beau Vallon beach, for example, mostly elderly women bring their home cooked curry - of varying quality - to the market, served in heated pita breads along other traditional dishes such as grilled fish. Here, chilli is optional, having in mind tourist palates.

In ordinary Seychellois restaurants, elaborate traditional dishes such as the octopus curry are difficult to find, and even at Maria's Rock Café you would need to order it the day before.

Lucky then, that the most common traditional dish, grilled fish, is both tasty and quickly made, being available at any restaurant. Jean Baptist, for example managed to found his famous Chez Batista restaurant and lodge at wonderful Takamaka Beach on southern Mahé from the revenues he made from grilling fresh fish on the beach. This is still Mr Baptist's speciality.

As with tropical spices and vegetables, Seychelles is blessed with an unlimited access to fresh fish and seafood. The lively Victoria market especially on Saturdays gives a glimpse of the large variety of fish available; from the cheap and everyday-dish bonito, via tuna, barracuda and shark to the more exclusive grouper, red snapper and sailfish, typically served as a Sunday dish but now mostly reserved for the tourism industry.

Fish is not only grilled. A pleasant surprise is the use of locally smoked fish in many salads or even paninis. In traditional cooking, the salad may be spicy. In modern cooking, as represented in many hotel restaurants, spices have been exchanged with imported ingredients and presentation is king. Both ways are delicious.

Most visitors to Seychelles see little to traditional cooking but nevertheless get a taste for modern Creole cuisine through so-called "fusion" now being so popular in most kitchens designed for tourists.

Ulric Denis is a good representative for this new Seychellois kitchen. He takes great pride in being a Seychellois, in his small nation's rich traditions and in the many local, fresh ingredients in Seychelles. His mother taught him the basics of Seychellois cooking.

But Mr Denis, who has worked his way up to become chef de cuisine at the a la carte restaurant at the prestigious Meridien Hotel at Bel Ombre, Mahé, has most of his formal cooking education from France. Uniting traditional Creole dishes and flavours with French techniques and presentation, Mr Denis is among the pioneers of the archipelago's new cuisine.

In his modern, tidy and streamlined kitchen at Le Meridien, Mr Denis shows his qualities as a wizard, conjuring a delicious fusion meal in a matter of minutes. OK, Mr Denis uses bottled coconut milk and has his pre-packed fish delivered twice a week, always available in the fridge. But efficiency is needed to serve hundreds of guests freshly made meals only minutes after they order.

Mr Denis cuts the red snapper fillets - one of the most delicious fishes you find in Seychelles - into small cubes. He chops fresh herbs - basil and mint - and onion. Garlic and fresh turmeric are quested into a mass. A medium hot pan with much oil is host to the fish cubes for less than a minute. Then, the oil is temporarily removed from the pan to fry the ginger-garlic mass together with the herbs and masala powder. Coconut milk is added before the oil and then the fish is put back in again.

Cook on low heat for some five minutes. And voilá - the red snapper curry is done! You can find the detailed recipe here.

The whole process takes less than ten minutes. The curry fusion is served with rice - breadfruit is not available - and chilli is optionally added in small quantities at the last moment. "Chilli is the last ingredient that you add, or it will become bitter," Mr Denis emphasises. Also, "too much chilli, as is common in Seychelles, disguises the other flavours," he holds. Not without reason, it turns out.

What seemed so simple immediately reveals itself as a delicate dish with one layer of flavours after the other appearing as the taste matures in the mouth. "Yes, it looks easy," Mr Denis smiles, "but you need to be perfecting the balance of flavours," he reveals. Nevertheless, the dish is easy to copy, to cook and to personalise.

The "fusion" cuisine is widespread in Seychelles, with Mr Denis being a good representative able to make an international version with a truly Seychellois base, resulting in an exciting experience. No doubt, Mr Denis's deep roots in Seychelles and his mother's kitchen assure a result that is still very much Seychellois.

Most of the many French chefs on the archipelago are not that successful in their attempts of making a "fusion".

Indeed, at the most exclusive resorts, what is served as "fusion" is often international cuisine - of course delightful and wonderfully presented - with only a tiny touch of Seychelles, if at all. Even ingredients are often flown in from abroad, despite the fact that Seychelles indeed is a paradise when it comes to fresh and tasteful quality ingredients.

Paradise assessed
"Paradise" is the word most often used by the Seychellois to describe their archipelago, and of course they proudly hold their kitchen to be paradise's own cuisine. Their argument is strong, with the abundance of fresh tropical ingredients to be harvested everywhere and "the best of three continents" mixed into a unique Creole flavour.

Even at Maria's, her Italian husband makes sure to tell every visitor they live in paradise. In Maria's kitchen, abundant quantities of garlic and less known spices such as cinnamon leaves and odd-shaped chillies promised a delicious meal. Maria tells me how most of these spices are picked in her mother's garden, while some are weeds found anywhere.

"The garlic," I ask, "is it also home-grown?" I had noted the wide use of this favourite spice in Seychellois cooking.

"No, it is imported," Maria answers. Finally, I am also able to brag, noting that I grow large quantities of garlic in my garden, noting a small surprised envy in her face. "Hah," I think, "finally I have proven that Seychelles cannot be paradise. Paradise without garlic - impossible!"

The Victoria market is held every morning in the capital's centre, close to the bus station. It is especially lively on Saturday mornings, especially between 9:00 and noon, when locals from all Mahé island flock together to buy fresh products, meet old friends and gossip. The market on Saturdays has also developed into Victoria's greatest tourist attraction and is a perfect place to learn about local products, buy quality food and visit artisan shops and local cafes and restaurants. Visitors will be surprised by the over 20 types of mangos, around 26 types of bananas, more then ten types of chilli, varieties of local fish, and so on, also providing fantastic photo opportunities.

Maria's Rock Café is located a ten minute's walk from the Anse Gouvernement beach, Baie Lazare, south on Mahé island. The exotic restaurant provides a very personalised service, mainly serving fresh prawns, meat, fish and chicken for self-frying on hot lava stones. Creole sauces, rice and salads are included in the very reasonable price. Larger groups or people wanting special dishes such as octopus curry should order one day in advance at tel +248-361812.

The Rock Café also houses the obscure pirate home of Maria's Italian husband Antonio Felice Filippin, a very eccentric artist, which is open to the public and designed to surprise even experienced globetrotters.

The Beau Vallon beach market, which is also called the Bazar Labrin, is held every Wednesday evening, from 16:00 to 22:00, and is a magnificent opportunity to experience local cooking at low prices. Here, octopus curry kebabs are sold at rupee 40, and other dishes, including grilled fish, are even cheaper. If you want a beer along with the food, you need to bring it yourself. The Bazar Labrin also offers genuinely local music and artisan products and can be highly recommended. At the same site, home made fast foods are sold in a smaller scale every afternoon.

Chez Batista is the best choice to experience Creole grilled fish south on Mahé island. As the only lodge and restaurant in idyllic Takamaka Bay, owner Jean Baptist serves fresh fish grilled directly at the beach every day, with the large Sunday buffet being a highlight. Price levels are reasonable, also for the lodge.

Le Meridien is among the most prestigious hotels on Mahé island, with roots back to the 1940s. Located in Bel Ombre in northern Mahé, the French-owned hotel has mostly Seychellois staff. The a la carte restaurant run by executive chef Ulric Denis is pricy, in a delightful, luxurious but somewhat impersonal surrounding and can offer some of the island's best examples of modern cooking with a true Seychellois taste.