Hospitality sector sees fast growth

The hospitality sector in Saudi Arabia is witnessing rapid growth in investments and this growth is further expected to continue with 149 new hotels in the pipeline in different parts of the Kingdom.
According to Omar Al-Mubarak, director general of licensing at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), the hospitality sector has witnessed rapid growth in investment in the recent past and it is set to grow further.
“The Saudi hospitality sector has witnessed rapid growth in investments and this growth is expected to continue in the near future with 149 new hotels coming up,” said Al-Mubarak while commenting on the hospitality sector growth here recently.
These new hotels are under construction in different parts of the Kingdom, he added.
He further explained that over 77 percent of the hospitality investment in the Kingdom is in the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. This is expected to rise in addition to increased investments in hotels, particularly the three-star category, resorts and upscale furnished apartments in other major cities of the Kingdom in the future.
Al-Mubarak also said that the number of hotels and furnished apartments in the Kingdom, until the end of March 2014, stood at 230,000.
He added that the number of accommodation facilities like hotels, furnished apartments, hotel villas, hotel apartments, inns, roadside motels and resorts until March this year, numbered 3,626, out of which 721 were hotels, 2,860 furnished apartments, one hotel villa, 14 hotel apartments, 20 tourism inns, five motels and five tourist resorts.
The number of rooms in the accommodation facilities, both hotels and furnished apartments, until the end of March, had reached 144,200 hotel rooms and 85,800 furnished apartments, he said.
According to the SCTA, the vacation ownership market, which is driven by the burgeoning growth witnessed in the travel and tourism sector, is another important factor for the rapid growth in investments.
The commission maintains that due to unprecedented activities with the beginning of the summer festival, which coincides with the summer holidays and special festivals on other holidays and school breaks, various domestic tourism centers across the Kingdom register massive tourist movement with hotels, furnished apartments and seaside resorts of all categories and levels recording high occupancy rates.