Planners of Dundee's £1bn Waterfront regeneration scheme has said that the potential new surge of visitors to the area will create a need for the development of five more hotels in the city. Tourism spending is expected to reach £1bn between 2015 and 2025, with at least 300,000 extra visitors every year.
New attractions for the waterfront include a new £45m V&A Dundee Museum which will open in 2015, a Maritime Way tour and a marina for commercial and leisure needs. There will also be a vast residential development alongside the new £18m Dundee railway station and the £32m Olympia swimming pool.
There are three hotels operating in the Dundee Waterfront area- Apex City Quay, Premier Inn and Holiday Express. There are nearly 1000 hotel bedrooms in the city and a further 257 rooms will be created following the opening of the new Malmaison (91), Customs House (38) and Railway Station hotels (128).
Mike Galloway, director of city development at Dundee City Council estimates that a further 500 rooms, or five new hotels each with a capacity of around 100 rooms each are needed in the city.
“That means we are looking to increase the number of beds by around 40%. Leisure and business tourism currently generates nearly £200m of revenue per annum for the city region, but we expect that to grow by at least 50% to £300m following the opening of the V&A.
The Dundee Waterfront Partnership is a joint venture between Scottish Enterprise and Dundee City Council.