Tune Group To Build Hotel In Doha

From Norsyafawati Ab Wahab DOHA, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- Tune Group is planning to build its first Tune Hotel in Doha, Qatar in the next six months as part of its Middle East expansion plan via the formation of Tune Middle East. Tune Middle East is a 50:50 joint venture between Tune Group and Qatari partner Mohammed Al Saad, who is the vice president and managing director of Barwa Bank Group and also vice chairman of Barwa Real Estate. Tune Group co-founder Tony Fernandes said taking advantage of the strong Qatar economy, Doha would be a good platform to roll out the Tune brand in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Middle East. “We are also planning to build another hotel but about the place and when we will start to build it, I can’t announce yet, but it will be a massive hotel project of about 7,000 rooms," he told the media in conjunction with the official launch of Tune Middle East here Wednesday. The group would also look into the potential of the financial services business via its Tune Money, he added. He said Tune Middle East would be the nucleus for the group's expansion in Qatar and the Middle East. “With a total population of over 40 million among the GCC countries alone, the Middle East is a vibrant market for Tune to tap into and we look forward to building our business here,” he added. He said for its long-haul low-cost carrier airline AirAsia X, the group has been approached by several parties to also fly in the GCC areas. “We already fly into Tehran, Iran and we soon will fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and by this partnership, I think, we may also bring our services here in Qatar,” he said. Both Malaysia and the United Kingdom, where the Tune Group has a strong presence, have strong relations with Qatar, and the group would also look for the potential to fly to Europe from Qatar as well, he said. On AirAsia X's initial public offering (IPO) listing, he said it is slated in the second half of this year, according to the earlier plan. “I’m very keen on that plan (IPO listing), I’m agreed that previously there were some conflicting statements about that, but as one of the directors I will push for it as it is very important for the next stage of AirAsia X's growth,” he added. --BERNAMA