22 | DEVELOPER PROFILE Peter Riddoch, Porto World WORDS | Peter Riddoch
www.opp.org.uk | JUNE 2010
Riddoch on... Where next for property in Egypt and Porto World?
Peter Riddoch
The new CEO at Porto World A wealth of experience
eter Riddoch has just taken control of the Porto World group of resorts for AMER in Egypt. He is one of the most prominent fi gures in Middle East development and for six years he was CEO of Dubai- based Damac. From his beginnings as a quantity surveyor in Scotland, he has built 40 years of experience in international real estate, working in South Africa, Qatar and the UAE … as well as heading up Hilton’s development services operation. He played a key role in driving Damac to become the largest independent developer in the Gulf. He resigned in September 2009 and headed for Egypt, fi rst as CEO of the Port Ghalib development and now as the new head of Porto World.
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What’s the situation in Egypt at the moment?
During the recession, Egypt only lost around 300,000 tourists. So even in a down market it’s held up relatively well. And in the fi rst quarter of this year some parts of the country have seen a 38% increase in tourism. This has been helped since December by a marketing campaign from the country’s tourist authority across its target markets.
What’s the biggest challenge that the country faces? Egypt wasn’t really impacted by the economic downturn but one of the biggest challenges will be ensuring our growth is sustained as the world recovers, and that we continue to attract those people who are spending their income incrementally on holidays.
But is there not a concern the country could become overdeveloped? I don’t think so. Developers are going
beyond the local market and paying a lot of attention to what’s going on internationally. But the country has its own, very strong domestic tourist demand – most of the locals live in a few cities and around half the population is under 25. Also the local demand is concentrated in summer while the international demand comes all year round, and developers can play off different countries at different times.
With so many developers now operating in the country, what will make AMER stand out?
One of the single biggest points of difference is the fact that what we create at AMER is a total world concept. It’s wrong to look at any of our projects as just residential. They all have hotels, real estate, fractional ownership, marinas, often golf courses, and all the other amenities needed for a complete holiday.
You left Damac at a time when things were really tough for Dubai. Was it a conscious decision to move away from that market?
No … Dubai is a great place and I enjoyed the years I lived there. I could have continued with Damac for years but I would have been marking time. Moving to Egypt was a chance to add my experience to a new market.
Why Egypt?
China and India saw big growth last year but Egypt’s economy grew by almost 5% and it’s an attractive place for investment.
Do you think Dubai really has the potential to come back and reach the level of success people were talking about a few years ago?
Dubai will bounce back – it has a very strong can-do attitude, many excellent businessmen and a leadership committed to moving the city forward. Credibility has been an issue and the market hasn’t been as transparent as it could have been. The fundamentals are still there regardless of the fact that some government entities have over- stretched themselves.
It is common to see resorts using just one or two big agents or relying on direct sales. What strategy will you pursue for AMER and why? Up until now the company has largely been focused on the local market so it hasn’t required an extensive agent network. But now we are going international we do want to market through agents across the regions we want to expand into. Agent networks are vitally important for us because we are dealing with end users not investors and we’re looking for them to have confi dence in an agent who’s on the ground with them and fully trained to tell them everything about the development. Whether I’m a buyer in Manhattan or Munich, knowing I’m dealing with someone who’s convinced of the benefi ts of the development will give me a high level of confi dence.
What do you look for in a good agent and why should they want to work with you? We look for agents who have a good database of clients and are very keen to be trained. We are specialists in the second-home market so we are very attractive to the international agent community. We’re not just a developer – we provide everything from the fi rst stake in the ground to the making of the beds.
PEOPLE
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