IHG backs Middle East push with strengthened segments

InterContinental Hotels Group is strengthening its position in the Middle East and North Africa and expanding into new markets such as Algeria.

At the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, Pascal Gauvin, IHG’s managing director, India, Middle East and Africa, said his company sees value in developing in the region. IHG operates 84 hotels in the Middle East and has another 27 in the pipeline.

IHG’s growth is centered largely in the United Arab Emirates—where the company has a pipeline of 12 properties—and Saudi Arabia, where IHG is building eight hotels, he said.

In the United Arab Emirates, Gauvin and his team recently opened a resort in Fujairah, on the country’s east coast, while in Ras al Khaimah a 320-room hotel is under construction and currently has no announced IHG brand.