The hospitality division of Emaar Properties will hire 1,000 new staff in 2009 as it opens two new hotels in Dubai, and will open its first hotel in Europe in 2011, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The firm is also looking at Asia, further opportunities in Europe and the US, Marc Dardenne, the chief executive of Emaar Hospitality Group, said at a travel and tourism conference in Dubai. 'We will add 1,000 associates to our family,' he added.

The new hotels, the Address Dubai Mall and the Address Dubai Marina, will open in August and September, he said, doubling the number of its hotels in the seaside emirate.

'We are actively looking in Asia and we are looking at further opportunities in Europe and the US to get that global footprint,' he said.

Dardenne said the division had recently opened a sales office in India and was actively looking there, but had 'no confirmed plans yet'.

The group signed its first management agreement to operate an Address hotel in the south of France. 'Our goal is 60 properties in the next 10 years,' he said, adding the group hoped to operate 12 hotels by 2012.

Emaar Hospitality recently announced a polo retreat in Marrakesh in Morocco, and is in discussions over a beach resort and a golf resort on the Atlantic coast in the North African country, he said.

Emaar Hospitality has projects in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all of which are in the various stages of design, he said, adding it had signed a letter of understanding for a property in Istanbul in Turkey.-Reuters