Dubai’s Jumeirah Group LLC has slashed hundreds of jobs from its total of 24 hotels worldwide, due to a slowdown in the emirate’s tourism industry. The individuals who are connected with the business group said, currently, the city’s struggling tourism industry weighs on the operator of the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel.
The government-owned luxury hotel chain, which manages 24 properties in eight different countries, has recently cast off about 500 jobs, and most of the cuts were support roles, said the sources.
On asking about the turmoil, a spokeswoman of Jumeirah has denied to comment on the matter.
Jumeirah was founded in 1997 in Dubai, UAE, and approximately 14,000 colleagues from across 140 nationalities were being employed by the company as of late.
Hotel businesses in Dubai, being the emirate’s major economic pillars, happen to be the backbone of the city’s tourism industry. But currently because of the industry’s struggling status, occupancy levels during the second quarter were at their lowest since 2009, while average daily rates and revenue available per room fell to 2003 levels, according to STR – a global benchmarker in hotel industry. New openings ahead of the 2020 World Expo have also led to oversupply.
However the emirate’s tourism industry is not the only sufferer but its real estate developers and banks are also reducing staffs as the emirate grapples with regional geopolitical tensions too. The city’s one of the prime productions – oil, whose prices are relatively low and its ongoing real estate and retail businesses all are confronting a fall.
Mulling into the matter, the government introduced measures to enhance the economy such as lowering certain business fees and issuing longer-term visas.
