Knight Frank, a leading privately owned global property agency and consultancy, has hired a new manager at its Dubai office in the UAE.

Ali Manzoor joins the Development Consultancy team, and will help Knight Frank to meet increasing demand from developers, investors and governmental institutions for development advisory. Manzoor will primarily be involved with the commercial, residential, retail and hospitality sectors.

Harmen De Jong, partner with Knight Frank explained that the UAE and the wider GCC continue to attract interest from hotel developers and operators driven by economic diversification programmes which target tourism as a key economic contributor in the wake of dwindling oil reserves.

"We expect Ali to strengthen our hospitality advisory capabilities further, bringing on board a wealth of experience in terms of hotel operations, development advisory and more specifically hotel operator selections and contract negotiations on behalf of owners" he said.

Manzoor started his career in the high-end hospitality industry in London, UK, before moving to the region, and has since spent four years in development advisory in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) working on a variety of appointments, from stand-alone assets to larger mixed use masterplans. He specialises in concept development, financial analysis and operator selection.

"Although there is growth potential for most asset classes in the region, the hospitality sector remains a lucrative one," said Manzoor.

"Take Dubai, for example,where there were approximately 70 million passenger movements last year at Dubai International Airport alone. With mega projects such as the Mall of the World, Bluewaters Island and the Dubai Parks and Resorts complex in the pipeline, Dubai will be increasingly successful at converting more transient traffic into hotel room nights in years to come as these projects come to fruition,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service