As such, the developer will add close to 20,000 new keys to Dubai’s hotel stock over the next five years. Azizi’s hotels and resorts in the UAE and beyond will be managed by its very own hospitality division.

While coinciding with 30th edition of the Arabian Travel Market, the region’s leading event for the inbound and outbound travel industry and biggest gathering of its kind, the announcement also follows Azizi’s recently revealed plans to enter the hospitality sector, with its new chief operating officer - Hospitality, Michael Zager, leading the developer’s newly established hospitality division.

Azizi’s hospitality investment plan also comes in light of vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, H.H. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, having announced the UAE’s target to reach 40 million visitors and increase the tourism sector’s GDP contribution to AED450 billion within seven years.

Azizi has already acquired most of the necessary plots of land for its hotels and is planning to launch the construction before the end of 2023.

Mirwais Azizi, chairman, Azizi Developments, commented: “With the UAE’s Tourism Strategy 2031 aiming to leverage public-private partnerships and seeking to attract over AED100 billion in new investment in the tourism sector, we have decided to make a major investment in the hospitality sector. With the investment of AED60 billion over the course of the next five years, we aim to become a major part of Dubai's promising future as a global hub for tourism.”