Hamburg/Germany – September 16, 2008
The opening of the Atlantis resort in Dubai (1,529 rooms) end of September marks the completion of only one hotel project of nearly 100 in the United Arab Emirates. Within the next five years, approximately 42,000 rooms will be added to the first class and luxury hotel market of Dubai. The number of leading hotels grows by 21 percent which is more than any other region of the world. According to a study of tophotelprojects.com®, the number of first class and luxury hotels worldwide is increasing by 7.1 percent (that means more than 2,570 hotels and resorts).

„The increasing number of first class and luxury hotel construction projects is a result of the phenomenal growth of tourism worldwide. For several years we monitor more and more new large hotel projects in nearly all important business and leisure destinations,” Rolf W. Schmidt, Vice President Marketing + Sales EMEA of CHD Expert Group, said. Tophotelprojects.com®. is an online data base of CHD Expert Group and offers all relevant data and key personal contact on nearly 3,000 first class and luxury hotel projects worldwide.

The number of luxury hotels increases by 16 percent as the number of first class hotels will only rise by 4 percent. In North America and the Caribbean as well as in the Asia/Pacific region, the number of top hotels will grow by 13 percent. In Europe the number of upscale hotels will increase only by 4 percent as the market saturation is more advanced.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland more than 400 new first class and luxury hotels will be opened. At present in the German-speaking region 378 luxury hotels and 5,631 first class hotels are in business.

In the Middle East the strong growth of the tourism industry is the main reason for real estate investors to fund new hotels and resorts. The number of luxury hotels will increase by 42 percent, the number of first class hotels will rise by ten percent.

About tophotelprojects.com®: As one of the leading databases for hotel leads, tophotelprojects.com® offer more than 2,500 detail sheets of all important hotel projects worldwide. Every month more than 150 new hotel projects are being added and over 350 project sheets are being updated. Publisher of tophotelprojects.com® is the CHD Expert Group.

About CHD Expert Group: The CHD Expert Group (CHD) has for the last ten years helped the hospitality industry collect, manage and analyze business data in the Away-from-Home market. CHD Expert Group is recognized as a global leader in this field. CHD Expert has the largest database (over four million records) relating to the European and North American markets. For the rapidly growing global Away-from-Home Market, CHD Expert has become an essential business tool.

More information:
www.tophotelprojects.com

Contact:
Germany office – Mr. Rolf W. Schmidt, rschmidt <at> chd-expert.com
CHD Expert Germany
Veerser Weg 2b,  D–27383 Scheessel / Germany (near Hamburg)
Tel. +49 (4263) 301 300, Fax +49 (4263) 301 333

Press services:
Mr Carsten Hennig, presse <at> chd-expert.de
Tel. +49 (4263) 301 131, Mobile +49 (160) 958 377 56

Keywords:
hotel projects, hotel construction, first class hotel, luxury hotel, hotel market, hotel industry