JORDAN - Hilton Worldwide has taken over the management of Jordan’s Dead Sea King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre (KHBTCC), effective from 1 September. One of the largest convention centres in the Middle East (5,000sqm of meetings space), the venue sits next to the 285-room Hilton Dead Sea Resort and Spa under development and due to open in 2014.
Hilton Worldwide’s new management contract is with Dead Sea Resorts PSC Company. Global Head of Hilton Hotels and Resorts brand, Dave Horton, says the deal represents “a partnership to leverage the Hilton brand’s global expertise and leadership in meetings and large scale events for the region.”
KHBTCC is the first project managed by the Hilton brand in Jordan, although there are new developments for the group in the country, including three new Hilton hotels in Aqaba, Amman and Dead Sea areas, as well as the first Doubletree by Hilton in Aqaba.
“Jordan is a key development market for us,” says the President for Hilton Worldwide, Middle East and Africa, Jean-Paul Herzog. “As an upscale resort and therapeutic area, the Dead Sea is an ideal location to increase our presence in the Jordanian Kingdom, where modernisation meets with a rich history. KHBTCC will benefit from a swift opening, with the full support of the Hilton sales and marketing engines as well as the support of the KHBTCC former GM, Naif Zureikat, who will stay on to manage the convention centre.”
Chairman of Dead Sea Resorts PSC, Said Darwazah, notes there has been “a surge in business travel across Jordan”, adding: “Hilton Worldwide's established credentials and well-positioned brands will help us manage demand and meet conference and incentive travellers’ high expectations for this new conversion.”
In the Middle East and Africa Hilton Worldwide has 44 hotels across 14 countries, and another 25 properties in the pipeline.
