Marriott International is hopeful of luring in as much as $2 billion investment in Saudi Arabia in the next four years by nearly doubling the number of hotel rooms it operates there, as per an executive’s account on Monday.
The kingdom strives to boost the regional and international tourism sector in its attempt to diversify the economy away from oil exports.
It has established a set target of $46.6 billion in spending by local and foreign tourists in 2020 marking a rise from $27.9 billion in 2015. Alex Lyriakidis who is the managing director and president of Marriott told the media that his firm would expand the number of rooms at its hotels to nearly 12,500 in the next four years from almost 6,800 now.
Building is presently underway on the 6,000 new rooms that would be costing $2 billion, as mentioned by him in a recent interview.
He went on to add that the company would be operate 52 hotels once work was complete, up from 23 now. This company operates the Le Meridian, Ritz Carlton, Marriott and Sheraton brands in Saudi Arabia, among others.
Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel had reopened this month, more than three months after it was converted to a temporary prison for members of the business and political elite of Saudi Arabia who were detained in an anti-corruption purge.
He said that the temporary closure of Ritz Carlton did not hurt the group’s operations in this part of the world and he also said that this crackdown on corruption would go a long way in reassuring investors.
He feels that domestic tourism continue to be responsible for most tourists.
The authorities of Saudi said that they would be issuing tourist visas to foreign visitors this year but are yet to disclose the details.
