Dubai-based hospitality group Almulla, today launched the ‘world’s first Sharia compliant hotel brand’ portfolio under three core brand names of Cliftonwood, Adham and Wings.

The group’s strategic plan envisages 30 properties by the end of 2008. 

All properties operating under these brands will respect and abide by the principles of Sharia and will not sell alcohol and only serve halal prepared food, as interpreted by the Sharia law and the Sharia supervisory board.

“There are plenty of individual Sharia compliant hotels throughout the world. However their positioning is usually dictated by the owner, either as an independent hotel, one within a chain or due to the Sharia law of the country where they are situated,” said Abdulla M Almulla, chairman of Almulla Hospitality.

“Our brand proposition is so distinct that guests will be confident that our brand values have universal consistency.”

Almulla Hospitality targets the GCC travellers who spend over $12 billion annually on leisure travel alone. According to the World Tourism Organization, Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest outbound travel markets in terms of average spend with tourists from the kingdom spending $6.7 billion annually on overseas travel.

The UAE travellers are close behind at more than $4.9 million, an average of $ 1,700 per trip, which is $500 higher than the European average.

The Muslim traveller market is increasing around the world due to the increasing wealth in their communities combined with conscious lifestyle living which represent 10 per cent of the world tourism market, and is one of the fastest growing segments. Their average spend is 10 to 50 per cent higher than that of the average leisure or business traveller.

The bottom line is that conscious lifestyle tourism is expected to grow at a rate of 20 per cent per annum, five times more than the average traditional market segment, said the group.

The specific destinations targeted are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand.  Beyond this first wave, Almulla Hospitality is looking forward to set operation in Europe with 15 deluxe hotels to be followed by 25 business hotels in “the second European wave”.

Overall strategy of the hotel group is to reach 150 hotels by 2013 with expected total investment of over $2 billion. Abdulla Almulla said institutional investors and high net worth individuals (HNWI) will be the back bone for such growth drive.  - TradeArabia News Service