Saudia Group has placed a major new order for Airbus aircraft. The company includes the national carrier of Saudi Arabia as well as its low-cost subsidiary flyadeal.
01.05.2024 - 15:33 / skift.com / Josh Corder
Are Saudi Arabia’s new tourism offerings too pricey? That’s the sentiment on the ground at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) in Riyadh this week.
Between now and the end of the decade, 320,000 new hotel rooms are expected to open in Saudi Arabia. According to Knight Frank, 82% of those new rooms are in the luxury and upscale segments. And 66% of Saudi’s current 149,400 rooms are also upscale and luxury.
Saudi eventually wants 70 million international tourists to come visit. But it was only in 2019 that it opened for tourism at all. Saudi had 27 million international visitors in 2023 – many of them came for religious travel rather than stays at newly-developed leisure hubs.
Radisson’s regional vice president of development, Elie Milky said on a panel at the summit that “ego projects” by private investors are becoming less prevalent.
“Emotional and ego investments are going away. We need to be in line with the tourism strategy but we need to help it in not only promoting five-star categories,” Milky said. “It’s too risky for some investors to go into a place with a five-star hotel. It might be a nice idea for a five-star hotel, but you might not see return on investment.”
Many developments are being funded by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Chaired by the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, PIF owns and develops tourism sites such as Neom, Diriyah Gate and The Red Sea – three leisure destinations with a swell of luxury facilities.
“Giga-projects” are being built solely with five-star hotels. Some of them are planning to cap visitation as well, making it even tougher to accommodate 70 million visitors.
The Red Sea is one such example: The Maldives-like project along the Saudi coastline is planning to open 50 luxury hotels. The plan is to open 16 hotels by 2025, and another 34 before 2030.
To date, every hotel announced there has been a luxury name.
Despite costing billions, The Red Sea is going to chip in one-seventieth towards achieving international tourism goals. The site will limit visits upon completion to protect the environment.
With luxury projects not moving the needle much in achieving visitor goals, hotel developers are hammering for more economical brands.
At another session at the summit this week, Wyndham’s regional MD, Panos Loupasis said: “Saudi will become exclusive. That’s a problem. If you want to attract people, and have them come again and again, visit more cities, it can’t be so exclusive. Three-star hotels are enablers for travelers. They democratize travel.”
“The market is not well-educated in mid-scale brands. There seems to be a strong focus on luxury in Saudi,” added Leva Hotels CEO JS Anand, a Dubai-based operator serving mid-scale.
“Not everybody will pay $2,000
Saudia Group has placed a major new order for Airbus aircraft. The company includes the national carrier of Saudi Arabia as well as its low-cost subsidiary flyadeal.
Hopping between Gulf countries could soon be as easy as traveling through Europe's Schengen Area: just flash your passport at the entry point and seamlessly travel from one country to the next—no extra paper work required.
As Chinese travel into the Middle East continues to increase, one of the country’s largest hotel operators sees an opportunity. While it’s not as commonly known in the West, H World is a giant in the hotel industry, with around 9,300 hotels and close to one million rooms across the world.
Skift reported recently that Saudi’s Vision 2030 is too expensive for tourists: If it eventually wants 70 million international visitors, it’s going to need more supply of hotels that don’t cost thousands of dollars a day.
Boutique Group, a pioneering ultra-luxury hospitality group fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, marks its first independent participation at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), one of the most significant tourism industry events in the world.
Jeddah Historic District Program (JHD), under the patronage of the Saudi Ministry of Culture, and Cruise Saudi, a fully-owned Public Investment Fund company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement aligns with the ambitious development goals of Saudi Vision 2030. This partnership is strategically designed to accommodate the increasing number of international cruise visitors who enjoy exploring the authentic sites of the historic district. Central to the goals of both Jeddah Historic District Program and Cruise Saudi is preserving the area’s distinctive cultural identity and historical landmarks while stimulating local economic growth. This collaboration encourages local entrepreneurship and investment, drawing on the private sector’s innovative capacities to enhance the visitor experience. This proactive involvement aims to boost job creation, foster small businesses, and promote sustainable economic activities that benefit the entire community.
Even by Saudi standards, the goals are ambitious: By 2030, the country wants 330 million passengers to pass through its airports annually, up from around 112 million last year.
“Perception” was one of the key topics discussed by Saudi Tourism Authority CEO Fahd Hamidaddin during a roundtable discussion at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) conference in Dubai.
Saudi Arabia’s spare-no-expense cruise brand Aroya is set to launch this December, promising cigar lounges, jacuzzis, 28 dining options, 20 venues for entertainment, a retail area, and wellness and spa facilities.
Most travelers see little more than the duty-free store during a short connection, but there’s an alternative approach that’s gaining momentum.
As passenger numbers in the Middle East are predicted to reach 429 million this year, representing a 5.4% increase on 2019 figures, a panel of aviation experts convened at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) yesterday to discuss how the market is changing, outlining their predictions for the future of air travel. The session, ‘Looking Skyward for Innovation: How Technology is Disrupting Aviation’, was moderated by travel expert Mark Frary and included panellists from Cirium, IATA, AviationXLab, and Riyadh Air.
One of the Middle East’s annual big-ticket industry events, the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), takes place this week in Dubai and opened this morning, while the UAE continues to attract visitors from around the world. Just this year, Dubai was ranked first in the Top 100 City Destinations Index 2023 by Euromonitor International. This comes against a backdrop of the world recovering from Covid-19, high inflation rates affecting travel, and turmoil in the region. Although the global travel market continues to recover, few can doubt that the dark clouds that have hovered over the Middle East since the Israel-Gaza war broke out in October of last year have taken a toll on tourism and business travel alike in countries like Egypt and Jordan.