Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi opening delayed

The luxury hotel Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi, in the UAE capital, expects to delay its opening by one year, the hotel operatorÔÇÖs president and CEO said on Monday.┬áIt was scheduled to open in 2011 but in an interview with Arabian Business, Simon Cooper said that it would ÔÇ£probablyÔÇØ open a year later.ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs relatively on schedule. I would probably err to 2012 if you asked me,ÔÇØ he said, without elaborating on the reasons for the delay. ┬á Many UAE real estate developments have been cancelled and delayed as the global recession brought an end to a boom in the region last year. Tourism is also to blame, since it accounts for 19 percent of GDP in Dubai, and is also coming under increasing pressure as fewer people are taking holidays amid the downturn.┬á Cooper said DubaiÔÇÖs tourism industry had been the most impacted in the region, but added that the Ritz Carlton hotels in other regions have been fairing well. ÔÇ£Obviously Dubai is the most impacted in the region...Egypt is not doing too badly, if you look at some of the more business focused [markets] - Qatar and Bahrain arenÔÇÖt doing too badly,ÔÇØ he said. ÔÇ£You have to look at the source markets for Dubai ÔÇô you have not only got a residential challenge in terms of selling everything [that] is being built, but then you look at the source markets, primarily the UK and Germany and those are tough markets right now so itÔÇÖs hardly surprising.ÔÇØWhen asked if he thought that Dubai would be one of the first tourist regions to bounce back as has been predicted, Cooper said he didnÔÇÖt expect it to improve until its biggest source markets did first.ÔÇ£I am not a big believer in bouncing back right now...If the UK is not going to bounce back, Dubai wonÔÇÖt bounce back. ÔÇ£When you are looking at markets returning you have to look at the source market and [ask] how quickly are they going to recover, how quickly are people going to have a disposable income and how quickly are they going to be coming back to Dubai and spending $500-600 a night?ÔÇØ ┬á The chainÔÇÖs second hotel in Dubai, at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), is still set to open at the end of this year.