Ghassan Aridi

As a travel and hospitality industry professional and pioneer, Mr. Ghassan Aridi wears many different hats.

He holds the title of CEO, Alpha Destination Management, Dubai; Chairman for both GAA Marta Consulting and Grand Aurum Marketing and Executive Chairman to both Paramount Hotels & Resorts and The Scene by Paramount Hotels & Resorts.

Through the ever-expanding professional reaches of Alpha Destination Management, he has played an integral and much lauded role in the development of the travel and tourism success of Dubai and surrounding Gulf Region for almost 25 years, and as such has been invited to sit on numerous Government tourism and development advisory boards.

Over this period, he has nurtured Alpha Destination Management into an established and successful destination and tourism management organization, having won international accolades and serving global partners, in both inbound and outbound segments.

While he attributes the success to his team that prides themselves on a hard-earned reputation for professionalism and excellence in all areas of aviation and hospitality, leisure travel and tourism, destination development and marketing, Alpha Destination Management owes a large part of its success to Mr. Aridi’s vision and expertise.

Mr. Aridi established GAA Marta Consulting and Grand Aurum Marketing in 2006, where they have been providing innovative, experienced consulting services to Governments and the tourism industry.

They advise on multi billion dollar tourism investment, infrastructure and development projects for Governments and private institutions around the world. They have offices in Spain and Dubai (operating under Grand Aurum Marketing), where they’ve maintained long-term relationships with blue chip tourism, aviation and global hospitality and investment organizations.

Their strong understanding and experience in investment and destination infrastructure development aids in Foreign Direct Investment to numerous destinations and projects.

GAA Marta Consulting is specialized in tourism development in Destination promotion and distribution, Tourism master planning, Tourism strategies, product and infrastructure development, Theme Park licensing and management, Brand marketing development, Airline route analysis and development, Hotel planning, branding and start up and Economic and Health tourism event organizers.

In 2012, Mr. Ghassan Aridi as Executive Chairman established and registered PHR FZ LLC, operating under the name Paramount Hotels & Resorts, a 5-star luxury lifestyle hospitality management company.

He secured an exclusive, long-term agreement with Paramount Licensing Inc., the licensing division of Paramount Pictures Corporation, to establish a chain of Paramount-branded hotels, resorts and residences.

As befits a brand born in the Hollywood hills, along the lines of the studio model, each property will be unique and conceived as a major release which will be developed by a team of uniquely creative people working together in a uniquely creative process to direct, design and detail an exceptional experience, in an environment reflecting timeless Hollywood elegance with contemporary styling.

Headquartered in Dubai, Paramount Hotels & Resorts has signed-up more than twenty hotel and serviced residences projects in the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, USA and South Korea totaling just over 6,000 keys. They have also signed an exclusivity agreement for the development of four hotels and residences projects in the UAE, KSA and Turkey, and are in various stages of negotiation for further properties in Asia, Middle East, Europe, North and South America.

In response to the growth of the global hospitality market, Mr. Aridi established The Scene by Paramount Hotels & Resorts and Residences in March of 2016.

The Scene, a 4-star upscale lifestyle Hotel management company, was developed by the same creative minds behind Paramount Hotels & Resorts and is similarly linked to Hollywood and the movie industry, but with more of a lifestyle brand suited to younger demographics.

All Scene properties are rooted in the same brand pillars and key customer experiences, but take shape with the influence of the local culture and demand – the look and feel, amenities and operations adapt per property per context, thus engaging a wider audience.

This brand will compliment the needs of the market nicely, and will be managed by the same Paramount team.

Mr. Aridi’s wealth of experience and knowledge has time and again proven to be a valuable asset to the continued development of travel and tourism, for governments and investment growth alike.

Complimentary to this, Mr. Aridi is also recognized as a leading travel and tourism correspondent and has contributed to many international media publications and programs for broadcasting organizations including CNN, MBC, Al Jazeera, CNBC Arabia , Sky News, Dubai TV ,BBC and many other.

As an industry stalwart, his contributions have been invaluable and innumerable, with the inclusion of organizing and establishing the World Health Tourism Congress for the 10 years through his company Grand Aurum Marketing.

The various posts and designations Mr. Aridi holds are credentials that establish him as leading, internationally recognized destination and tourism management luminary.