With under 100 days remaining for the Expo 2020 host city announcement, discussions regarding its impact on the region are at its peak. Mohamed Awadalla, CEO of Times Hotels predicted that 25 million people from all over the globe are expected to visit the Expo. He also said, “300,000 jobs will be created in UAE with majority being in the travel, tourism and hotel sector.”

Awadalla was one of the regional leaders in a panel discussion being held at the 7th Annual Middle East Hotel Expansion Congress. The event took place at InterContinental on October 1st and 2nd.

Faisal Al Mohanndi, a Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) official, welcomed all the Middle Eastern hoteliers to Qatar and opened the event yesterday. A panel discussion led by Charles Bott, Director of PKF the Consulting House, highlighted that the future of the hotel industry is positive in 2014, despite economic crisis in some parts of the world.

In addition to Mohamed Awadalla , General Manager of Oryx Rotana Doha and Vice President of Millennium & Copthorne Middle East & Africa were also on the panel.

In accordance with that conclusion, Moine Kandil of Millennium & Copthorne Middle East & Africa emphasised, “An estimated 30,000 total number of rooms will be completed in Qatar by 2013 with an annual addition of 5000 per year, making it 75,000 hotel rooms by 2020.”

Organised by Naseba, the French business facilitation group, the Congress also addressed the issue of sustainability in the industry, emphasising that recycling is just one part of the solution. With increasing awareness about such problems, a new generation of travellers is emerging.

Experts concluded that , people are now looking at staying at eco-friendly hotels and factors like location of the hotel, previous experience of the guest, room view etc. are secondary. The discussion also highlighted that, technological advancements such as online bookings, social media and staff engagement on social forums were attributed to have a positive impact on the hotel industry.