Hospitality
TURNING POST‑TRAVEL DEMAND INTO LASTING HOSPITALITY VALUE

Exclusive interview with Thinus van der Westhuizen – Culinary Director | Ninety Nine SB Investment L.L.C.
How has UAE hospitality capitalized on pent-up travel demand?
The UAE hospitality sector didn’t passively benefit from pent-up travel demand; it strategically positioned itself to capture it early and at scale. By reopening quickly and ensuring seamless entry through simplified visas and strong air connectivity, the country became one of the first accessible global destinations when travel resumed. This allowed it to convert suppressed demand into immediate high occupancy and visitor volumes.
At the same time, the UAE diversified its demand base by balancing leisure tourism with business travel and large-scale events. Conferences, exhibitions, and global events helped sustain momentum beyond the initial leisure surge, supporting year-round performance rather than a short-term spike.
The sector also focused on enhancing experiences, with continuous investment in new hotels, attractions, and luxury offerings. This encouraged repeat visits and increased length of stay, turning demand into deeper engagement rather than just higher footfall.
Importantly, the UAE maintained strong pricing power, capturing higher revenue per visitor without compromising its premium positioning. Combined with coordinated government strategies and global marketing, this approach transformed pent-up demand into sustained growth and long-term competitiveness.
Are travelers’ priorities changing (luxury vs. wellness vs. experiences)?
Yes, within the context of 99 Sushi Bar, traveler priorities are shifting, but in a way that actually reinforces its positioning rather than challenges it.
Luxury at 99 Sushi Bar is already aligned with the new definition of the category. The concept is built around exceptional product quality, refined technique, and highly personalized service, rather than overt opulence. Its philosophy of “respect for the product” and use of premium ingredients like bluefin tuna naturally fits the growing demand for authentic, high-value dining experiences.
At the same time, the rise of experience-led dining works strongly in its favor. The brand blends traditional and contemporary Japanese cuisine, offering both classic and innovative dishes, which keeps the experience dynamic and engaging for repeat guests.
Wellness, while less explicit, is indirectly addressed through quality sourcing, balance, and precision, key elements of Japanese cuisine that resonate with today’s health-conscious diners.
In the UAE market, this convergence means 99 Sushi Bar isn’t adapting to trends, it’s already positioned at the intersection of experiential luxury, quality-driven dining, and meaningful guest engagement, which is exactly where demand is heading.
Are local sourcing and partnerships helping maintain menu quality and pricing stability?
Yes, local sourcing and partnerships are playing an increasingly important role in maintaining both menu quality and pricing stability, particularly in markets like the UAE.
On the quality side, sourcing locally allows restaurants to access fresher ingredients with shorter lead times, which directly improves taste, consistency, and seasonality. It also enables closer collaboration with suppliers, chefs can influence growing practices, secure specific varieties, and ensure more reliable standards compared to relying solely on imports. We at 99 have shifted towards this philosophy years ago encouraging local produce as Dibba bay oysters or UNS for fresh herbs and greenery.
From a pricing perspective, local partnerships help reduce exposure to global supply chain volatility, currency fluctuations, and import costs. While local produce isn’t always cheaper, it offers greater predictability, which is critical for menu engineering and margin control. Long-term agreements with regional suppliers can also lock in pricing or at least smooth out extreme swings.
There’s also a brand and demand advantage. Diners are increasingly responsive to locally sourced ingredients, associating them with sustainability and authenticity, which supports perceived value even if prices are maintained or slightly increased.
Overall, local sourcing doesn’t eliminate cost pressure, but it creates more control, consistency, and resilience, allowing operators to protect both quality and pricing more effectively.
Are chefs innovating with Emirati produce to keep menus dynamic?
Yes, chefs in the UAE are increasingly innovating with Emirati produce, and it’s becoming a key way to keep menus dynamic while reinforcing identity. Our Local produce runs seemlessly throughout the menu, introducing great freshness and bragging rights as ambassadors for the produced sourced locally.
There’s a noticeable shift from relying heavily on imported ingredients to exploring what can be grown locally, from desert herbs and local seafood to dates, camel dairy, and regionally farmed vegetables. What’s interesting is that this isn’t just about tradition, chefs are reinterpreting Emirati ingredients through modern techniques and global influences, creating dishes that feel both rooted and contemporary.
This approach gives menus a natural sense of evolution. Because local produce is often seasonal and still developing in scale and variety, chefs are encouraged to rotate dishes more frequently, experiment with new suppliers, and adapt based on availability. That constant adjustment keeps offerings fresh without needing to reinvent concepts entirely.
There’s also a storytelling element that resonates with diners. Using Emirati produce allows chefs to connect guests more deeply to place, which aligns with the broader demand for meaningful, experience-driven dining.
Ultimately, local innovation isn’t just a creative choice, it’s becoming a strategic tool for differentiation, sustainability, and long-term menu relevance.
What strategies are you using to maintain occupancy and revenue growth?
To maintain occupancy and drive revenue growth, the focus has been on balancing demand diversification with disciplined commercial strategy rather than relying on volume alone.
A key approach is targeting multiple demand segments simultaneously, leisure, corporate, and events, so performance isn’t dependent on one stream. By actively leveraging partnerships, programming, and seasonal campaigns, demand is smoothed across periods that would traditionally see softer occupancy.
At the same time, there’s a strong emphasis on revenue management. Instead of discounting to fill rooms, pricing is dynamically adjusted based on demand patterns, booking windows, and market trends, allowing us to protect rate integrity while still maximizing occupancy.
Another important lever is enhancing the guest experience to drive repeat visitation and longer stays. This includes curated offers, personalized service, and evolving on-property experiences that encourage higher spend per guest rather than just higher footfall.
Finally, collaboration plays a role, working closely with airlines, tourism boards, and local partners helps expand reach and tap into new source markets. Overall, the strategy is about maintaining a premium positioning while being agile enough to capture demand as it shifts.
Hospitality
ZAHRA’S KITCHEN SHARES ITS GUIDE TO EASIER SUMMER EATING IN THE UAE
As summer routines shift across the UAE, Zahra’s Kitchen, the UAE homegrown premium food brand, is encouraging consumers to rethink convenience food with simple, flexible meal ideas designed to make everyday eating easier, more flavourful and less time consuming. The seasonal guide comes as the brand expands its ready meal range with three new additions and prepares to launch a limited edition single-portion collection exclusively on Noon Minutes this summer.
Created for busy everyday routines, Zahra’s Kitchen offers handcrafted ready meals, snacks and nibbles inspired by comforting recipes and familiar flavours. Made using responsibly sourced ingredients, with no artificial additives or preservatives, products are frozen at peak freshness to help preserve flavour, texture and nutritional value, while offering greater ease, flexibility and variety throughout the week.


This summer, the brand is spotlighting one of the simplest ways to approach mealtimes at home. One ready meal does not need to mean one meal. Instead, Zahra’s Kitchen is sharing how its dishes can become the starting point for multiple meal ideas, helping consumers create more variety with less effort.
Simple ways to rethink summer meals include:
- Beef Bolognese: Serve with pasta for an easy dinner, or turn it into lasagne, pasta bakes, stuffed vegetables or eggplant fattah.
- Chilli Con Carne: Use as a base for tacos, enchiladas, nachos, rice bowls or loaded baked potatoes.
- Butter Chicken: Pair with rice and naan, or fold into wraps, flatbreads, sandwiches and pizzas for a quick lunch or casual dinner.
- Plant-Based Sweet Potato and Chickpea Red Curry: Enjoy on its own, or serve alongside grilled fish, chicken or vegetables for an easy summer meal.
The expanded ready meal range now includes Lentil Soup, Chicken Freekah and Plant-Based Sweet Potato and Chickpea Red Curry, joining customer favourites including Beef Bolognese, Butter Chicken, Beef Meatballs, Chilli Con Carne and Basmati Rice.
Currently available in two-serving portions, the ready meal range has been designed to offer flexibility, value and multiple meal occasions. The upcoming limited edition single-portion range, launching exclusively on Noon Minutes this summer, has been developed for consumers looking for greater flexibility during busier days.
Alongside its ready meal collection, Zahra’s Kitchen also offers a range of snacks and nibbles rooted in Middle Eastern flavours and entertaining traditions, including Musakhan Rolls, Beef Kibbeh, Falafel and Spinach Puff Bites. Ideal for sharing platters, lunchboxes, family gatherings, casual hosting or everyday snacking, the range reflects the same commitment to quality ingredients and ease.
Hospitality
KINTSUGI KAHANI WORKSHOP WITH ROHINI DUBAI
On 27 June, Rohini will host the Kintsugi Kahani Experience, inspired by the Japanese art of golden repair. Rooted in the philosophy of embracing imperfection, the experience invites guests to explore creativity through a hands-on workshop that celebrates the beauty found in flaws and life’s imperfections.
Throughout the evening, participants will create a meaningful keepsake to take home while engaging with the centuries-old concept of transforming brokenness into something beautiful and unique. Designed as a reflective and creative experience, the workshop offers guests an opportunity to connect with the art form in an intimate and inspiring setting.
Follow and explore: rohinidubai.com and IG: @rohini.dubai for more such offers and experiences..
Hospitality
FROM TUNA FREIGHTER TO OCEAN ICON: SIYAM WORLD MALDIVES LAUNCHES NOONU ATOLL’S COOLEST NEW DIVE PLAYGROUND
At Siyam World Maldives, part of Sun Siyam’s Lifestyle Collection, when someone says, “let’s create a new dive site,” they do not mean a new mooring buoy. They mean sinking an entire ship and launching a brand-new shipwreck site in Noonu Atoll. A former Maldivian tuna freighter has now been reimagined as a dynamic new wreck dive site and the foundation of a future living reef.
Over time, through natural coral growth and dedicated restoration efforts, the wreck will gradually transform into a thriving underwater ecosystem, creating new habitat for marine life and contributing to the long-term health of the surrounding environment. Developed in collaboration with the resort’s expert team at Sun Diving, the project blends Maldivian heritage, conservation, and serious underwater adventure into one bold new experience.
What started as a playful dinner remark in 2021 quickly turned into a bold mission: Chairman and founder, Mr. Ahmed Siyam Mohamed shared a vision of creating something truly special beneath the waters of Noonu Atoll, a dive experience that would attract explorers while contributing to the future of the marine environment. And just like that, the challenge was set. Fast forward, a former Japanese-built tuna freighter from the 1980s, once responsible for transporting Maldivian tuna across the atolls to Malé and local canneries, has been reimagined as the region’s newest underwater attraction. Measuring 66.36 metres in length and weighing 499 tonnes, the vessel now begins a second life beneath the waters of Noonu Atoll as both an exciting new dive site and the foundation of a growing artificial reef.
After being located in Lhaviyani Atoll and carefully cleaned and prepared near Malé, the vessel was towed to Noonu Atoll following government approval in August 2024. In October 2024, it was purposefully sunk on the north west side of Siyam World, within the resort’s territorial waters, beside a thriving reef already known for schooling fish and vibrant marine life.
Of course, no great story happens without a twist. During the initial sinking, trapped air caused the ship to settle upside down on the seabed. Not exactly the plan. Undeterred, Siyam World brought in a skilled local team from Miladhoo in early 2025 who, after weeks of precision lifting with massive air bags and ropes, successfully rotated the wreck upright. Mission accomplished.
Today, the bow points dramatically towards the reef at 10 metres, while the stern drops to 24 metres, creating an accessible yet thrilling dive for a wide range of certified divers. The marine life has wasted no time claiming its new address. Already recorded around the wreck are guitar sharks, blacktip reef sharks, lemon sharks, nurse sharks, grey reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles, moray eels, octopus, groupers, snappers, boxfish, batfish, angelfish, nudibranchs, and large schools of jackfish. Soft and hard corals are already flourishing across the steel structure, transforming it into a living reef and highlighting its potential to become one of the Maldives’ most exciting artificial reef projects
Unlike a traditional reef dive, this site delivers atmosphere, scale and a real sense of exploration. Divers can glide along the ship’s striking exterior lines or venture carefully into open sections to experience its shadowed interiors and dramatic angles. The contrast between the bright blue open water and the moody steel silhouette creates unforgettable perspectives and serious photo moments. It is immersive, powerful and entirely unique to the region.
With official government approval to cultivate coral fragments directly onto the wreck, Siyam World’s Sun Diving team is actively enhancing the site as a living, growing artificial reef. But the ambition extends beyond creating a new dive attraction. The wreck forms the centrepiece of Wreck to Reef, Siyam World’s new annual ocean conservation initiative under the Sun Siyam Cares sustainability platform. As the project develops, guests will be able to follow its progress through future editions of Wreck to Reef, updates from Sun Diving’s marine experts, and a structured reef monitoring programme led by resort Marine Biologist Mariyam Thuhufa (Thuhu). Coral growth, biodiversity, and the overall development of the ecosystem will be documented and assessed every three months, providing measurable insights into the transformation of the wreck into a thriving living reef. The goal is to create a lasting connection between travellers and the marine environment, transforming visitors into active participants in ocean restoration while ensuring the project’s environmental impact can be monitored, measured, and shared for years to come.
For those wanting to be part of the story from the very beginning, Siyam World will officially launch the first edition of Wreck to Reef from 11 to 15 June 2026, bringing together divers, conservationists, content creators, and ocean enthusiasts for a programme of wreck dives, coral planting sessions, marine talks, clean-up initiatives, and community engagement activities. Designed as an annual event, Wreck to Reef will return each year to celebrate and support the ongoing transformation of the wreck into a living reef.
The best part? This new wreck dive is available to all Siyam World guests, and to certified divers staying at other resorts within Noonu Atoll for a supplementary excursion fee. In short, it is set to become the atoll’s new must dive experience. At Siyam World, adventure does not stop at the waterline. Sometimes, it begins twenty four metres below it.
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