Tourism push spurs growth in hospitality sector

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s hospitality sector is witnessing phenomenal growth with tourist accommodations gaining in terms of the number of facilities, size of the investment, private sector regulatory development and increased job opportunities for Saudi youth.
A Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) official said Monday that the number of hotels and furnished condominiums in 2004 stood at 2,139 facilities, which jumped to 5,868 by the end of 2015. Likewise, the number of hotel rooms rose from 104,380 to 281,563 by the end of 2015, he added.
Moreover, the number of accommodation units in furnished apartments rose from 51,768 in 2004 to 165,040 in 2015, he revealed, citing statistics from the Tourism Information and Research Center, the statistical arm of SCTNH.
Furthermore, the number of global hotel companies that entered the Saudi market rose from five to 25 after SCTNH took control of the sector seven years ago.
The total number of tourism sector employees also doubled by the end of 2015 to 11,348, out of whom 28 percent are Saudis.
In the wake of this remarkable growth seen by the hospitality sector, by 2020 a large number of hotels of different categories are expected to be established.
Moreover, hospitality mega-projects are underway in a number of cities which include the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh and the Jabal Omar project in the holy city of Makkah.
The development of the tourist accommodation sector is one of the most notable achievements of SCTNH, which made a paradigm shift for this sector after issuance of the SCTNH statute in 2003, which defined the powers of the commission and the transfer of authority to supervise the tourist accommodation sector. The statute also established the organizational framework for the relationship between stakeholders in the development of tourism activities.