RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector continued to expand rapidly at the end of 2025, with the number of licensed hospitality facilities rising 34.2 percent from a year earlier, official data showed.
The total number of licensed tourism establishments reached 5,937 in the fourth quarter, up from 4,425 a year earlier, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics. Serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities accounted for 3,090 of the total, while hotels numbered 2,847.
Strengthening the tourism industry is one of the key objectives outlined in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda, as the Kingdom is steadily diversifying its economy by reducing its reliance on crude revenues.
Having already surpassed the previously stipulated 100 million visitor target, the Kingdom’s National Tourism Strategy now aims to attract 150 million tourists by the end of this decade.
“The room occupancy rate in hotels during the fourth quarter of 2025 reached approximately 57.3 percent recording an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2024, when the rate was 56 percent,” said GASTAT.
It added: “The room occupancy rate in serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities reached 55.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, with no significant change compared to the same period in 2024.”
The average length of stay for guests in hotels reached approximately 3.8 nights during the fourth quarter of 2025, recording an increase of 4.7 percent compared to the same period in 2024, when the average stay was 3.6 nights.
In serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities, the average length of stay reached around 2.2 nights during the last three months of 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent.
The report, however, added that average daily rates in the Kingdom eased to SR389 ($103.63) in the fourth quarter, marking an 11.7 percent decline compared to the same period in the previous year.
The ADR in serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities reached SR207, marking a decrease of 5.7 percent.
Employment in tourism activities continued to grow, reaching 1.03 million in the fourth quarter, representing a 6.6 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
Saudi nationals made up 24 percent or 247,481 of the total workforce, while non-Saudis accounted for 76 percent.
By gender distribution, male employees in tourism activities totaled 893,924 employees, representing 86.7 percent of the total, whereas female employees reached 136,650, representing a 13.3 percent share during the same period.
