Luxury hotels group Jumeirah expects to be operating 57 hotels around the globe by the end of 2011, with the emphasis on iconic properties, the company's executive chairman Gerald Lawless said.

Jumeirah, which operates the Burj Al Arab hotel, has identified 26 locations for hotels including properties in major cities such as Paris, London, Frankfurt and New York, Lawless told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai.

The firm, which is owned by the ruler of Dubai, is close to signing a deal in Beijing and is 'very close to linking up with an investor in Bali and Jakarta', Lawless said, adding China could be put on hold until after the 2008 Olympics if construction is not started soon.

Last year, Jumeirah started managing New York's Essex House, its first property in the United States, where it is also looking at Boston, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco, Lawless said.

The focus on Asia, which includes having set up an office and establishing a development team in Shanghai, means that within five years Jumeirah expects to be able to generate 35-40 percent of its income from the region.

'We are really looking to develop as rapidly as those economies are. We see (the) Indian and Chinese (markets) as very significant for the future,' Lawless said, adding Dubai was also looking to get designated destination status which would make it easier for Chinese nationals to visit. Reuters