Tourism
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2013
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The tourism industry in the Kingdom has seen good growth in recent years. The number of visitors rose dramatically in 2011, making Saudi Arabia the largest travel market in the Middle East and North Africa. Plans to remove restrictions on the movement within the Kingdom of religious visitors from a number of countries, along with major tourism developments in the pipeline, are set to boost the market further. As demand grows, international hotel chains are expanding their presence, including in the middle and lower end of the market that has traditionally been left to local players. The authorities are also seeking to renovate traditional villages and turn them into tourist attractions, with funding to be generated through the creation of public-private companies. Meanwhile, efforts to develop the meetings, incentives, conferences and events segment are continuing apace.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Leading the way: Visitor numbers rise to put the Kingdom top in the region
OBG
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Foreign arrivals rose dramatically in 2011, making Saudi Arabia the largest travel market in the Middle East and North Africa. Plans to remove restrictions on the movement within the Kingdom of religious visitors from a number of countries, along with major tourism developments in the pipeline, are set to boost the market further. As demand grows, international hotel chains are expanding their presence, including in the middle and lower end of the market that has traditionally been left to local…

Analysis

Event horizon: Efforts to develop the MICE segment are continuing apace
OBG
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Meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) is one of the niches with the highest potential for bringing non-pilgrim foreign arrivals to the Kingdom. “MICE is a high-yield sector and we are working with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to make Saudi Arabia one of the major MICE locations in the Middle East,” Abdullah Al Jehani, the vice-president for tourism at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), told OBG. The segment also offers other benefits to the industry,…

Analysis

Brand new: Foreign chains are investing in segments they had previously ignored
OBG
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The number of hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia is set to increase dramatically as international hotel chains expand their presence and others enter the market for the first time. Investors are also increasingly looking at the middle and lower ends of the market, which have traditionally been left to local operators. Room For Expansion Examples of expansion include Best Western, which opened its first two hotels in the country in 2012 and plans to add nine more in the next two years, bringing its number…