Tourist arrivals in Saudi Arabia set to rise 43pc by 2020

The number of inbound tourist arrivals in Saudi Arabia is set to go up 43 percent by the year 2020, it has been revealed. Based on figures provided by MAS (Tourism Research & Information Centre), Deloitte, the audit, consulting and tax advisory firm, said that the number of international trips made to Saudi Arabia is estimated to increase from 18 million in 2015 to 25.8 million in 2020.

This was revealed during the Vision Conference, which concluded in Jeddah on May 19.

Grant Salter, head of travel, hospitality and leisure advisory at the Deloitte Middle East, said that Saudi Arabia’s tourism figures and hotel occupancy rates have historically been relatively high. “There are more than 49,000 new hotel rooms under construction or in final planning across the country to meet the demands of this significant increase in tourists,” he said.

According to Salter, these figures were prepared before the government’s Vision 2030 announcement in which tourism is planned to play a more meaningful role in the Saudi economy.

“We believe that with this vision, and improvements to the hospitality and leisure offering throughout the Kingdom – there is a good chance that the projected increases will be met, if not exceeded,” Salter said.

Salter was speaking at a talk – Market performance, trends and projects in Saudi Arabia – during the 2nd annual Vision Conference, which was held alongside the 4th annual Hotel Show Saudi Arabia.

Ismail al-Kamal, director at major Saudi-based developer al-Kamal International, presented “Lean startup methodology and how it relates to hospitality projects”. Al-Kamal revealed secrets behind some of the developers’ most impressive projects.