Dubai – The fifth Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) opens today (Saturday May 2 2009) under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman & CEO, Emirates Group.

According to conference co-organiser, Edmund O’Sullivan, the three-day event is set to provide timely discussion and debate and will see the ‘who’s who’ of the global industry thrash out the major challenges and opportunities that are facing the industry.

“The nine plenary sessions, 15 interactive workshops and 22 hours of informal networking have been carefully structured to facilitate discussion. We want to help delegates tackle the economic pressures affecting businesses that are looking to trim the fat without cutting the muscle,” he said.

AHIC 2009 will devote its key opening session, (today, Saturday May 2 2009), to the potential opportunities to the expanding hotel investment market in Saudi Arabia. This Summit session will feature topics such as market trends, industry overviews, investment and growth opportunities and business development challenges.

According to Worsley, ‘new developments’ is also a topic that deserves its own stage. “We have introduced an Investment Den concept," said Worsley. “The Investment Den will give a pre-selected group of developers the opportunity to pitch their projects to our expert panel of judges, made up of legacy industry investment advisors.”

Other topics on the agenda for the 2009 conference include pipeline dynamics, new destinations and brands, budget hotels, profitability of the spa and wellness sector, brand management, bank lending and Space travel.

The Arabian Hotel Investment Conference is organised by Bench Events and MEED Events and AHIC attracts investors, developers, operators, financiers, consultants, architects and design specialists.

Details can be found on .

Diana Gregory
+971 (0) 4 375-7987
MEED (Middle East Economic Digest)