JEDDAH: Hotels and furnished apartments in Saudi Arabia have achieved an occupancy rate of 50.6 percent and 58 percent respectively during 2008 against 50.8 percent and 50 percent the previous year, the Tourism Information and Research Center of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) said in its annual accommodation statistical report.
The report said 24,016,916 hotel and 24,749,543 furnished apartment rooms were occupied last year against 24,960,318 hotel rooms and 15,629,404 furnished apartment rooms in 2007.
According to the report, hotel occupancy during January, which coincided with the pilgrimage season in 2008, reached 57 percent with 2,246,513 rooms fully booked. Occupancy of furnished apartments reached a peak of 64.2 percent last August because of the summer vacation.
The report said, Makkah came first with about 15.6 million rooms, Madinah second with 3.7 million rooms, Riyadh third with 1.6 million rooms and the Eastern province fourth with 1.2 million rooms.
Makkah maintained its lead position in the occupancy (59.1 percent) of furnished apartments with 9.8 million rooms occupied followed by the Eastern province (56.8 percent) with 3.2 million rooms occupied. Madinah came third and Riyadh fourth.
