South Korea’s H2O Hospitality expands global footprint with Abu Dhabi office

South Korea’s H2O Hospitality has expanded its global reach by opening an office in Abu Dhabi, as the company seeks to capture growth opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) hospitality market.

H2O said its new headquarters in the Abu Dhabi Global Market will advance its next phase of international growth while laying the groundwork for the hospitality giant to emulate its success in Asia.

Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) provided H2O, which operates in the accommodation and leisure sector, with a comprehensive range of growth-enabling support, including financial incentives, setup enablement and connections to trade opportunities.

The Middle East region’s tourism market is expected to continue growing with passenger volumes fully recovering in 2024, reaching a projected 400 million travellers. Hotels in the UAE generated revenues of more than Dhs12.2bn in the first quarter of 2023, and over 7.2 million guests visited the country.

“Digital transformation has become an even more pressing matter for the hospitality industry. H2O will make maximum use of its technologies and know-how for Abu Dhabi customers seeking to be on the cutting edge of the era’s trends,” said John Lee, founder and CEO of H2O.

“We plan to make every effort to support Abu Dhabi to develop the tourism sector through our full-fledged business expansion in Abu Dhabi with the support from ADIO.”

H2O’s solutions are expected to contribute to the growth of the tourism sector in the emirate, with hotel rates in the emirate expected to rise by 7.1 per cent in 2024.

The company provides solutions which automate the front and back-end processes of hotels by digitising the process flow, enabling paperless and contactless procedures that improve efficiency and profitability for operators.

It is connected to more than 85 online travel agencies, in addition to managing over 190,000 units and 680 properties.

ADIO boosts Abu Dhabi’s private sector

Meanwhile, H2O joins other key players that have collaborated with ADIO to establish their Abu Dhabi operations, including Bespin Global, a leading cloud technology consulting and management company, Korean Best Team for Smart Farm Consortium (K-BTS Consortium), and Neoply, a blockchain technology company.

ADIO partnered with Faraday Future last December to bring the electric car startup’s generative AI and advanced intelligent electric vehicle capabilities to Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry (SAVI) cluster.

The government investment vehicle will work with Faraday Future as the car manufacturer is preparing to set up a regional headquarters, manufacturing hub and an advanced R&D centre in Abu Dhabi.

ADIO also partnered with Archer Aviation, a California aircraft company, to launch air taxi services across the UAE by 2026. The investment firm seeks to support Archer through incentives for setting up its first global headquarters and factory in the SAVI cluster in the emirate.

Read: ADIO, Faraday Future partner to make electric cars in Abu Dhabi