Kuwait’s hotels offer a pool of opportunities for business travelers.

“WE have good hotels and good food, and could easily do what Dubai and Qatar have done and more, given Kuwait’s size, its larger population and its bigger financial resources,” says Hani Kafafi, General Manager of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kuwait City. “All that is needed are creative projects.”
Like others in the emirate’s hotels and hospitality industry, Mr. Kafafi feels Kuwait has tremendous potential for tourism development and welcomes the extensive 20-year tourism development plan that has been launched by the government.

The development of a profitable tourism industry is a key element of the emirate’s bid to diversify the economy and create new jobs for Kuwaiti citizens. The government’s long-term development plan, drawn up in association with the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Development Program, aims to promote Kuwait as an ideal location both for family vacations and for business meetings and exhibitions.

Mr. Kafafi is “very positive” that recent changes, such as the New Investment Law and the relaxation of visa regulations, will help the tourism market to grow.

“At the moment Kuwait does not have the facilities to accommodate a big conference for a couple of thousand people, but with the opening of new hotels and the easing up of visas, a lot of new opportunities will be created,” he says.

Part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, the Crowne Plaza’s target clientele is the business traveler, for whom it provides everything to make his or her stay as pleasant and convenient as possible—including high speed internet access in every room. The hotel boasts no fewer than seven restaurants and is the only one in Kuwait to have a gym open 24 hours a day.

The hotel also offers some of the tightest security in the country. “Security in Kuwait is of a very high level,” adds Mr. Kafafi.

A lot of emphasis is placed on the InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club loyalty program. “Recent surveys have indicated that the highest number of repeat guests in our hotels are members of the Priority Club,” says Mr. Kafafi,
who is the Director of Operations for the group in the Northern Gulf.

InterContinental Hotels is the biggest hotel group in the Middle East and has been present in Kuwait for the past 20 years. Within the next four years, it expects to have four hotel operations in the emirate.

The government’s blueprint for tourism includes plans to develop the island of Failaka, Kuwait’s main archaeological site, and Bubiyan island as major visitor attractions.

The main focus is on domestic and regional tourism. With many Kuwaiti nationals currently taking their vacations abroad, and spending billions of dollars outside the country, the authorities are eager to redirect a high proportion of this revenue to boosting Kuwait’s GDP.

Modern shopping malls and traditional souks make Kuwait a shopping paradise.

They also want to capture a significant share of the lucrative regional market by attracting visitors from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area, targeting markets such as Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The emirate has already taken steps to make itself more accessible. Visitors from North America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand are now able to obtain entry visas on arrival instead of having to apply for them weeks in advance.

Millions of dollars have been spent on improving passenger and baggage handling systems at Kuwait International Airport. Pass-enger and commercial flights are increasing at the airport, which handles approximately 2.5 million passengers a year and is served by 35 major airlines.

Under the new Foreign Investment Law, foreign companies are now allowed 100% ownership of tourism projects, and a number of major tourism projects are under way, including new hotel complexes and other leisure developments.
Kuwait City is a modern city with excellent shopping facilities, ranging from glittering air-conditioned shopping malls with the latest designer stores and boutiques to traditional downtown souks offering carpets, jewelry, and gold.
Events like the recently established annual Hala shopping festival, have already started to increase the number of visitors.